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Motivation and Competition in Health Care

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony Scott

    (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

  • Peter Sivey

    (School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University)

Abstract

Non-pecuniary sources of motivation are a strong feature of the health care sector and the impact of competitive incentives may be lower where pecuniary motivation is low. We test this hypothesis by measuring the marginal utility of income of physicians from a stated-choice experiment, and examining whether this measure influences the response of physicians to changes in competition on prices charged. We find that physicians exploit a lack of competition with higher prices only if they have a high marginal utility of income.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Scott & Peter Sivey, 2017. "Motivation and Competition in Health Care," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2017n05, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2017n05
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    File URL: http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2017n05.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    FDoctors; incentives; competition; motivation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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