IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v205y2023icp648-667.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The causes and consequences of medical crowdfunding

Author

Listed:
  • Panjwani, Aniket
  • Xiong, Heyu

Abstract

In 2020, an estimated 8 to 12 million Americans started an online fundraising campaign to cover the cost of healthcare. In this paper, we study the causes and consequences of medical crowdfunding using data from GoFundMe, one of the largest online fundraising platforms. First, we show that the ACA Medicaid expansion had a statistically meaningful effect in reducing the number of health-related GoFundMe campaigns. This suggests that the demand for crowdfunded medical care could be driven, in part, by lack of health insurance coverage. Next, we show that the growth of medical crowdfunding can exacerbate group-level inequality by reinforcing existing disparities in health access. Specifically, we document that GoFundMe campaigns organized by individuals with distinctively African-American or Hispanic surnames and first-names are significantly less likely to meet their fundraising target and raise less funds overall than those organized by individuals with neutral or distinctively White names. We conclude by investigating the channels underlying these racial disparities in crowdfunding success.

Suggested Citation

  • Panjwani, Aniket & Xiong, Heyu, 2023. "The causes and consequences of medical crowdfunding," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 648-667.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:205:y:2023:i:c:p:648-667
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.11.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268122004218
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.11.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andreoni, James & Payne, A. Abigail, 2011. "Is crowding out due entirely to fundraising? Evidence from a panel of charities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(5), pages 334-343.
    2. Attila Ambrus & Markus Mobius & Adam Szeidl, 2014. "Consumption Risk-Sharing in Social Networks," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 149-182, January.
    3. Sarah Miller & Norman Johnson & Laura R Wherry, 2021. "Medicaid and Mortality: New Evidence From Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1783-1829.
    4. Deri, Catherine, 2005. "Social networks and health service utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1076-1107, November.
    5. Hungerman, Daniel M., 2009. "Crowd-out and diversity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(5-6), pages 729-740, June.
    6. Jeffrey R. Brown & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "The Interaction of Public and Private Insurance: Medicaid and the Long-Term Care Insurance Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(3), pages 1083-1102, June.
    7. Gaia Bassani & Nicoletta Marinelli & Silvio Vismara, 2019. "Crowdfunding in healthcare," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 1290-1310, August.
    8. Borgschulte, Mark & Vogler, Jacob, 2020. "Did the ACA Medicaid expansion save lives?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    9. Hungerman, Daniel M., 2005. "Are church and state substitutes? Evidence from the 1996 welfare reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(11-12), pages 2245-2267, December.
    10. Andrew Goodman-Bacon, 2018. "Public Insurance and Mortality: Evidence from Medicaid Implementation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(1), pages 216-262.
    11. Jen-Wen Chang, 2020. "The Economics of Crowdfunding," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 257-280, May.
    12. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    13. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September.
    14. Ge, Yanbo & Knittel, Christopher R. & MacKenzie, Don & Zoepf, Stephen, 2020. "Racial discrimination in transportation network companies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Diane Alexander & Ezra Karger, 2020. "Do Stay-at-Home Orders Cause People to Stay at Home? Effects of Stay-at-Home Orders on Consumer Behavior," Working Paper Series WP 2020-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    16. Charles Courtemanche & James Marton & Benjamin Ukert & Aaron Yelowitz & Daniela Zapata, 2017. "Early Impacts of the Affordable Care Act on Health Insurance Coverage in Medicaid Expansion and Non‐Expansion States," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 178-210, January.
    17. Ajay Agrawal & Christian Catalini & Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-97.
    18. Nina Boberg‐Fazlić & Paul Sharp, 2017. "Does Welfare Spending Crowd Out Charitable Activity? Evidence from Historical England Under the Poor Laws," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 127(599), pages 50-83, February.
    19. Bloch, Francis & Genicot, Garance & Ray, Debraj, 2008. "Informal insurance in social networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 36-58, November.
    20. Orsi, J.M. & Margellos-Anast, H. & Whitman, S., 2010. "Black-white health disparities in the United States and Chicago: A 15-year progress analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(2), pages 349-356.
    21. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    22. Gruber, Jonathan & Hungerman, Daniel M., 2007. "Faith-based charity and crowd-out during the great depression," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1043-1069, June.
    23. Jonathan Gruber & Benjamin D. Sommers, 2019. "The Affordable Care Act'S Effects On Patients, Providers, And The Economy: What We'Ve Learned So Far," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 1028-1052, September.
    24. Benjamin Edelman & Michael Luca & Dan Svirsky, 2017. "Racial Discrimination in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22, April.
    25. Imai, Kosuke & Khanna, Kabir, 2016. "Improving Ecological Inference by Predicting Individual Ethnicity from Voter Registration Records," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 263-272, April.
    26. Charles J. Courtemanche & James Marton & Aaron Yelowitz, 2019. "Medicaid Coverage across the Income Distribution under the Affordable Care Act," NBER Working Papers 26145, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    27. Gruber, Jonathan & Simon, Kosali, 2008. "Crowd-out 10 years later: Have recent public insurance expansions crowded out private health insurance?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 201-217, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Aparna Soni & Taryn Morrissey, 2022. "The effects of Medicaid expansion on home production and childcare," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(3), pages 931-950, January.
    2. Jun Yeong Lee & John V. Winters, 2022. "State Medicaid Expansion and the Self-Employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 925-954, October.
    3. Garth Heutel, 2014. "Crowding Out and Crowding In of Private Donations and Government Grants," Public Finance Review, , vol. 42(2), pages 143-175, March.
    4. Sarah Miller & Norman Johnson & Laura R Wherry, 2021. "Medicaid and Mortality: New Evidence From Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(3), pages 1783-1829.
    5. Acton, Riley & Imberman, Scott & Lovenheim, Michael, 2021. "Do Health Insurance Mandates Spillover to Education? Evidence from Michigan’s Autism Insurance Mandate," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Matt Hampton & Otto Lenhart, 2022. "The effect of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion on marriage," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 568-591, April.
    7. Ellis, Cameron M. & Esson, Meghan I., 2021. "Crowd-Out and Emergency Department Utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Maclean, J. Catherine & Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Welfare Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 13132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Korenok, Oleg & Millner, Edward L. & Razzolini, Laura, 2013. "Impure altruism in dictators' giving," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-8.
    10. Philipp Ager & Antonio Ciccone, 2018. "Agricultural Risk and the Spread of Religious Communities," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1021-1068.
    11. Lin, Lin & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Power of Public Insurance With Limited Benefits: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1180, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Krista Ruffini & Orgül Öztürk & Pelin Pekgün, 2023. "In-Kind Government Assistance and Crowd-Out of Charitable Services: Evidence from Free School Meals," CESifo Working Paper Series 10763, CESifo.
    13. Sarah Miller & Luojia Hu & Robert Kaestner & Bhashkar Mazumder & Ashley Wong, 2021. "The ACA Medicaid Expansion in Michigan and Financial Health," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(2), pages 348-375, March.
    14. Black, Bernard & Hollingsworth, Alex & Nunes, Letícia & Simon, Kosali, 2022. "Simulated power analyses for observational studies: An application to the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    15. Lindsey Rose Bullinger, 2021. "Child Support and the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansions," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(1), pages 42-77, January.
    16. Kyle, Margaret K. & Ridley, David B. & Zhang, Su, 2017. "Strategic interaction among governments in the provision of a global public good," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 185-199.
    17. Esra Kose & Siobhan M. O'Keefe & Maria Rosales-Rueda, 2022. "Does the Delivery of Primary Health Care Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from the Rollout of Community Health Centers," NBER Working Papers 30047, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Sieg, Holger & Zhang, Jipeng, 2012. "The importance of managerial capacity in fundraising: Evidence from land conservation charities," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 724-734.
    19. Jonathan Gruber & Benjamin D. Sommers, 2020. "Fiscal Federalism and the Budget Impacts of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion," NBER Working Papers 26862, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Janet Gao & Wenting Ma & Qiping Xu, 2023. "Access to Financing and Racial Pay Gap Inside Firms," Working Papers 23-36, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:205:y:2023:i:c:p:648-667. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.