Why do businesses such as fast-food restaurants, coffee shops, and hotels cluster? In the classic analysis of Hotelling, firms cluster to attract consumers who have travel costs. We present an alternative model where firms cluster because one firm is free riding on another firm's information...

U.S. federal and state governments rarely regulate healthcare price levels, but do regulate price changes for pharmaceuticals, hospitals, and health insurance. Previous research showed that limiting price increases can raise launch prices and reduce both profit and social welfare, assuming...

Shortages and rationing are common in health care, yet we know little about the consequences. We examine an 18-month shortage of the pediatric Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (Hib) vaccine. Using insurance claims data and variation in shortage exposure across birth cohorts, we find that the...

Patents for several blockbuster biological products are expected to expire soon. The Food and Drug Administration is examining whether biologics can and should be treated like pharmaceuticals with regard to generics. In contrast with pharmaceuticals, which are manufactured through chemical...

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Objective: To estimate rates of non-adherence for statins following implementation of a preferred drug list (PDL). <Emphasis Type="Bold">Study design: A retrospective cohort study. <Emphasis Type="Bold">Methods: A difference-in-difference-in-difference approach was used to estimate the impact of a PDL on the use of statins in an Alabama...</emphasis></emphasis></emphasis>

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have increased the availability of their products and sometimes increased their own financial returns by charging lower prices outside of the US and by discounting to lower-income patients in the US. Examples include discounted HIV-AIDS drugs in developing countries...

Theory predicts intense price competition results when firms cluster with rivals. Yet, strong evidence of clustering is found in previous empirical research. Researchers typically measure clustering by comparing observed location patterns to random assignment. The random assignment benchmark...

SUMMARY Understanding competition in the US drug market requires knowing how sensitive demand is to prices. The relevant prices for insured consumers are copayments. There are many studies of copayment elasticity in the health literature, but they are of limited applicability for studies of...