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Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs?

Author

Listed:
  • Carolina Lopez
  • Anja Sautmann
  • Simone Schaner

Abstract

In an experiment in Mali, we tested whether patients pressure providers to prescribe unnecessary medical treatment. We varied patients' information about a discount for antimalarial tablets and measure demand for both tablets and costlier antimalarial injections. We find evidence of patient-driven demand: informing patients about the discount, instead of letting providers decide to share this information, increased discount use by 35 percent and overall malaria treatment by 10 percent. These marginal patients rarely had malaria, worsening the illness-treatment match. Providers did not use the information advantage to sell injections—their use fell in both information conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Carolina Lopez & Anja Sautmann & Simone Schaner, 2022. "Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 225-260, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:14:y:2022:i:1:p:225-60
    DOI: 10.1257/app.20190722
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kerwin, Jason & Rostom, Nada & Sterck, Olivier, 2024. "Striking the Right Balance: Why Standard Balance Tests Over-Reject the Null, and How to Fix It," IZA Discussion Papers 17217, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Carolina Lopez & Anja Sautmann & Simone G. Schaner, 2024. "Do Patients Value High-Quality Medical Care? Experimental Evidence from Malaria Diagnosis and Treatment," NBER Working Papers 32075, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Sautmann,Anja & Brown,Samuel & Kline,Dean Mark, 2020. "Subsidies, Information, and the Timing of Children’s Health Care in Mali," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9486, The World Bank.
    4. Abaluck, Jason & Pless, Robert & Ravi, Nirmal & Sautmann, Anja & Schwartz, Aaron, 2026. "Does LLM Assistance Improve Healthcare Delivery ? An Evaluation Using On-Site Physicians and Laboratory Tests," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11298, The World Bank.
    5. World Bank, 2022. "Mali Public Expenditure Review," World Bank Publications - Reports 37720, The World Bank Group.
    6. Cavanagh,Jack & Fliegner,Jasmin Claire & Kopper,Sarah & Sautmann,Anja, 2023. "A Metadata Schema for Data from Experiments in the Social Sciences," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10296, The World Bank.
    7. He, Daixin & Lu, Fangwen & Yang, Jianan, 2023. "Impact of self- or social-regarding health messages: Experimental evidence based on antibiotics purchases," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Kline,Dean Mark & Sautmann,Anja, 2022. "The Effects of Community Health Worker Visits and Primary Care Subsidies on Health Behaviorand Health Outcomes for Children in Urban Mali," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9986, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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