Innovation policy involves trading off monopoly output and pricing today in exchange for incentives for firms to develop new products. While existing research demonstrates that expected profits fuel R&D investments, little is known about the novelty of funded projects. We expand this literature...

We model how risk-neutral firms’ ability to obtain substantial private returns on marginal new technologies causes them to "reach for mediocrity" by investing in socially suboptimal projects, even in the presence of competition and new entrants. Focusing primarily on pharmaceutical innovation,...

This paper analyzes the relationship between postmarketing promotional activity and reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by modeling the interaction between a regulator (the FDA) and a pharmaceutical firm. Promotion-driven market expansions enhance profitability yet may involve the risk of...

Most countries regulate pharmaceutical prices, either directly or indirectly, on the assumption that competition is at best weak in this industry. This paper tests the hypothesis that regulation of manufacturer prices and of retail pharmacy margins undermines price competition. We use data from...

Proposed "delinking" legislation would prohibit Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from being remunerated based on the rebates and discounts they negotiate for drug insurance plans serving Medicare beneficiaries. This policy would significantly change drug pricing and utilization and shift...

Using individual level-data, the paper uncovers patient and drug characteristics that determine the probability of using the original patented products despite the presence of generic substitutes in the Czech Republic in the period 2009-2013. Our results reveal different behavioral patterns for...

In most developed countries drugs are dispensed to patients through physicians and pharmacists. This paper studies the effects of allowing doctors to directly dispense drugs to patients (self-dispensation) on pharmaceutical coverage. We use a Swiss dataset in our empirical analysis because...

Reference prices constitute a main determinant of patient health care reimbursement in many countries. We study the effects of a change from an "external" (based on a basket of prices in other countries) to an "internal" (based on comparable domestic products) reference price system. We find...