IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/54487.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Analysis of prices paid by low-income countries - how price sensitive is government demand for medicines?

Author

Listed:
  • Srivastava, Divya
  • McGuire, Alistair

Abstract

Access to medicines is an important health policy issue. This study analyses the demand for medicines in low-income countries from the perspective of the prices paid by public authorities. The analysis draws on World Health Organization (WHO) and Health Action International (HAI) 2006 data on procurement prices of medicines across 16 low-income countries covering 48 branded drugs and 18 therapeutic categories. Variation in prices, the mark-ups over marginal costs and estimation of price elasticities allows assessment of whether these elasticities are correlated with a country’s national income. Using the Ramsey pricing rule, the study’s findings suggest that substantial crosscountry variation in prices and mark-ups exist, with price elasticities ranging from -1 to -2, which are weakly correlated with national income. Government demand for medicines thus appears to be price elastic, raising important policy implications aimed at improving access to medicines for patients in low-income countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Srivastava, Divya & McGuire, Alistair, 2013. "Analysis of prices paid by low-income countries - how price sensitive is government demand for medicines?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 54487, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:54487
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/54487/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cutler, David M., 2002. "Health care and the public sector," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 31, pages 2143-2243, Elsevier.
    2. Andreas Seiter, 2010. "A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2468, December.
    3. Pitaknetinan, Kitti & Tangcharoensathien, Viroj & Supachutikul, Anuwat & Bennett, Sara & Mills, Anne, 1999. "Profit, payment and pharmaceutical practices: perspectives from hospitals in Bangkok," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 179-194, March.
    4. Mark Armstrong & Simon Cowan & John Vickers, 1994. "Regulatory Reform: Economic Analysis and British Experience," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262510790, December.
    5. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Hansen, Ronald W. & Grabowski, Henry G., 2003. "The price of innovation: new estimates of drug development costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 151-185, 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. Srivastava, Divya & McGuire, Alistair, 2014. "Analysis of prices paid by low-income countries: how price sensitive is government demand for medicines?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60341, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Srivastava, Divya & McGuire, Alistair, 2015. "Patient access to health care and medicines across low-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 21-27.
    3. Faden, Laura & Vialle-Valentin, Catherine & Ross-Degnan, Dennis & Wagner, Anita, 2011. "Active pharmaceutical management strategies of health insurance systems to improve cost-effective use of medicines in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of current evidence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(2), pages 134-143.
    4. Maarten Ijzerman & Lotte Steuten, 2011. "Early assessment of medical technologies to inform product development and market access," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 9(5), pages 331-347, September.
    5. Filistrucchi, L. & Ozbugday, F.C., 2012. "Mandatory Quality Disclosure and Quality Supply : Evidence from German Hospitals," Other publications TiSEM 680b0e3e-d3f5-4b91-9803-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Amy Finkelstein, 2008. "Input and Technology Choices in Regulated Industries: Evidence from the Health Care Sector," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 837-880, October.
    7. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 1999. "Spilled Water: Institutional Commitment in the Provision of Water Services," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 40158 edited by William D. Savedoff & Pablo T. Spiller, February.
    8. Wolf-Peter Schill & Juan Rosellón & Jonas Egerer, 2011. "Regulated Expansion of Electricity Transmission Networks: The Effects of Fluctuating Demand and Wind Generation," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1109, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Holger Patzelt & Dean A. Shepherd, 2009. "Strategic Entrepreneurship at Universities: Academic Entrepreneurs’ Assessment of Policy Programs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 319-340, January.
    10. Patzelt, Holger & zu Knyphausen-Aufseß, Dodo & Fischer, Heiko T., 2009. "Upper echelons and portfolio strategies of venture capital firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 558-572, November.
    11. Torsten Steinrücken & Sebastian Jaenichen, 2009. "Preisregulierung zum Schutz der Verbraucher: Wirkungen auf Werbung und Wohlfahrt," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 78(3), pages 188-201.
    12. Christine Jolls, 2007. "Employment Law and the Labor Market," NBER Working Papers 13230, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Boone, J., 2003. "Optimal Competition : A Benchmark for Competition Policy," Discussion Paper 2003-3, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    14. Darius Lakdawalla & Neeraj Sood, 2007. "The Welfare Effects of Public Drug Insurance," NBER Working Papers 13501, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. repec:kap:iaecre:v:17:y:2011:i:4:p:465-475 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:idb:brikps:331 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Dosis, Anastasios & Muthoo, Abhinay, 2019. "Experimentation in Dynamic R&D Competition," CRETA Online Discussion Paper Series 52, Centre for Research in Economic Theory and its Applications CRETA.
    18. Lorenz, Steffi, 2015. "Diversität und Verbundenheit der unternehmerischen Wissensbasis: Ein neuartiger Messansatz mit Indikatoren aus Innovationsprojekten," Discussion Papers on Strategy and Innovation 15-01, Philipps-University Marburg, Department of Technology and Innovation Management (TIM).
    19. Scherer, F.M., 2010. "Pharmaceutical Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 539-574, Elsevier.
    20. repec:ces:ifodic:v:3:y:2005:i:1:p:14567528 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Bottasso, Anna & Conti, Maurizio, 2003. "Cost Inefficiency in the English and Welsh Water Industry: An Heteroskedastic Stochastic Cost Frontier Approach," Economics Discussion Papers 8872, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    22. Garavaglia Christian & Malerba Franco & Orsenigo Luigi & Pezzoni Michele, 2014. "Innovation and Market Structure in Pharmaceuticals: An Econometric Analysis on Simulated Data," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(2-3), pages 274-298, April.
    23. Tomas J. Philipson & Eric Sun, 2008. "Is the Food And Drug Administration Safe And Effective?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 85-102, Winter.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    medicines; low-income countries; pharmaceutical policy; health policy; government procurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ehl:lserod:54487. 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: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    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.