In this note we explore the welfare properties of access restrictions to health care based on cost effectiveness. We show that such instrument can improve the average effectiveness of health care, but it is optimal only under specific assumptions relating to the shape of the welfare function and...

The Accident and Emergency Departments (A&EDs) are responsible for a large share of overall hospitalization, diagnostic activity, and ultimately health care expenditure. Most health care systems use retrospective reimbursement systems to finance A&E departments, but this system may not be...

In this article we show that when the provision of paternalistic goods is entwined with income distribution, the political decision process may prevent welfare maximisation. We model the decision process from a political economy perspective by assuming that the quantity of a paternalistic good...

In a recent article Davidson, Lawrence and Wilson propose a model showing that, in the presence of distortionary taxation and goods of different quality, tax evasion can be an optimal device. Here, we show that this result, although quite interesting, cannot be generalised to a framework where...

In a dynamic optimisation framework we show that the optimal tax evasion can be either a positive or a negative function of the tax rate according to the form of the fine to be paid when evasion is detected.

This article discusses the allocation of public expenditure among competing services. Some countries such as Italy use a double budget constraint; that is, the top level sets total expenditure and its allocation between competing services, whereas other countries just define the total budget....

Competition in hospital care is often implemented through mixed markets where public and private hospitals compete for patients. The optimality of this market form has long been debated in the literature. In this paper, we investigate the role of soft budget constraint in affecting patient...

In a model where health care provision, its regional distribution and the equalisation grant are the result of a utilitarian bargaining between a (relatively) rich region and a poor one, a First Best solution can be reached only if the two Regions have the same bargaining power. From a policy...

Patient mobility is a key issue in the EU who recently passed a new law on patients’ right to EU-wide provider choice. In this paper we use a Hotelling model with two regions that differ in technology to study the impact of patient mobility on health care quality, health care financing and...