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Much Ado About Two: Reconsidering Retransformation and the Two-Part Model in Health Economics

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John Mullahy
Abstract

In health economics applications involving outcomes (y) and covariates (x), it is often the case that the central inferential problems of interest involve E[y|x] and its associated partial effects or elasticities. Many such outcomes have two fundamental statistical properties: yò0; and the outcome y=0 is observed with sufficient frequency that the zeros cannot be ignored econometrically. Common approaches to estimation in such instances include Tobit, selection, and two-part models. This paper (1) describes circumstances where the standard two-part model with homoskedastic retransformation will fail to provide consistent inferences about important policy parameters; and (2) demonstrates some alternative approaches that are likely to prove helpful in applications.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Technical Working Papers with number 0228.

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Date of creation: Mar 1998
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberte:0228

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I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
C2 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Heckman, James J, 1979. "Sample Selection Bias as a Specification Error," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 153-61, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M, 1992. "Some Alternatives to the Box-Cox Regression Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 33(4), pages 935-55, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Newhouse, Joseph P. & Phelps, Charles E. & Marquis, M. Susan, 1980. "On having your cake and eating it too : Econometric problems in estimating the demand for health services," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 365-390, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Duan, Naihua, et al, 1983. "A Comparison of Alternative Models for the Demand for Medical Care," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 1(2), pages 115-26, April.
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  6. Mullahy, John, 1986. "Specification and testing of some modified count data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 341-365, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Andrews, Donald W K, 1988. "Chi-Square Diagnostic Tests for Econometric Models: Theory," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1419-53, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Matthew J. Eichner & Mark B. McClellan & David A. Wise, 1997. "Health Expenditure Persistence and the Feasibility of Medical Savings Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 11, pages 91-128 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  9. Hay, Joel W & Olsen, Randall J, 1984. "Let Them Eat Cake: A Note on Comparing Alternative Models of the Demand for Medical Care," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 2(3), pages 279-82, July.
  10. Pagan, Adrian & Vella, Frank, 1989. "Diagnostic Tests for Models Based on Individual Data: A Survey," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(S), pages S29-59, Supplemen. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Cragg, John G, 1971. "Some Statistical Models for Limited Dependent Variables with Application to the Demand for Durable Goods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(5), pages 829-44, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ángel Marcos Vera-Hernández, 1999. "Duplicate coverage and demand for health care. The case of Catalonia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(7), pages 579-598.
  2. Donna B. Gilleskie & Thomas A. Mroz, 2000. "Estimating the Effects of Covariates on Health Expenditures," NBER Working Papers 7942, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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