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Healthcare Exceptionalism? Performance and Allocation in the U.S. Healthcare Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Chandra, Amitabh

    (Harvard University)

  • Finkelstein, Amy

    (MIT)

  • Sacarny, Adam

    (MIT)

  • Syverson, Chad

    (University of Chicago)

Abstract

The conventional wisdom in health economics is that idiosyncratic features of the healthcare sector leave little scope for market forces to allocate consumers to higher performance producers. However, we find robust evidence across a variety of conditions and performance measures that higher quality hospitals tend to have higher market shares at a point in time and expand more over time. Moreover, we find that the relationship between performance and allocation is stronger among patients who have greater scope for hospital choice, suggesting a role for patient demand in allocation in the hospital sector. Our findings suggest that the healthcare sector may have more in common with "traditional" sectors subject to standard market forces than is often assumed.

Suggested Citation

  • Chandra, Amitabh & Finkelstein, Amy & Sacarny, Adam & Syverson, Chad, 2015. "Healthcare Exceptionalism? Performance and Allocation in the U.S. Healthcare Sector," Working Paper Series 15-058, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:15-058
    as

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    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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