I evaluate how the probability of substitution of a prescribed drug in a pharmacy depends on the pharmacists' profits … and patients' out of pocket costs. I use Finnish population-wide data covering all prescriptions of three popular … antidepressants. I find that one euro increase in the total markup difference between the prescribed drug and its cheapest available …

coinsurance. For patients affected by the policy, we find that the likelihood of purchasing a 20% coinsurance drug decreases by 4 …. Patients have little incentive to shop for low-priced alternatives because they do not bear the full cost of their health care …, Switzerland introduced out-of-pocket price differentiation. As of July 1st 2011, substitutable pharmaceuticals with prices above a …

expected costs of misdoing. Second, they may have less information on patients' prescription drug use history. Prescription … pharmacies can be attributed to drug diversion. In addition, we find that independent pharmacies' OxyContin dispensing is higher … independent pharmacies are more likely to be linked to drug diversion. First, they have stronger financial incentives due to lower …

Using individual level-data, the paper uncovers patient and drug characteristics that determine the probability of …