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Informing the uninformed: How drug advertising affects check-up visits

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  • Hosken, Daniel
  • Wendling, Brett

Abstract

Direct-to-consumer drug advertising has recently become an important and controversial component of drug marketing. In this paper we examine one of the claimed benefits of drug advertising: encouraging the undiagnosed to seek out medical treatment. We measure how advertising affects an undiagnosed individual's decision to visit a physician for a check-up using detailed person-level panel data on more than 30,000 individuals from the Medical Care Expenditure Panel Survey. We find drug advertising is an important determinant of an individual's decision to get a check-up and that this effect of drug advertising appears to differ by demographic group. While the differences between demographic groups are not statistically different, our point estimates suggest that Blacks and the highly educated are the most responsive to drug advertising.

Suggested Citation

  • Hosken, Daniel & Wendling, Brett, 2013. "Informing the uninformed: How drug advertising affects check-up visits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 181-194.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:31:y:2013:i:2:p:181-194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2010.11.006
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    Cited by:

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Advertising; Pharmaceutical; Healthcare; Health insurance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

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