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Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs ?

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  • Pereira Lopez,Carolina
  • Sautmann,Anja
  • Schaner,Simone Gabrielle

Abstract

This study conducted an experiment in Mali to test whether patients pressure doctors to prescribe medical treatment they do not necessarily need. The experiment varied patients’ information about a discount for antimalarial tablets and measured demand for both tablets and costlier antimalarial injections. The study finds evidence of patient-driven demand: informing patients about the discount, instead of letting doctors 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

  • Pereira Lopez,Carolina & Sautmann,Anja & Schaner,Simone Gabrielle, 2020. "Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9482, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9482
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Leonard, Kenneth L. & Masatu, Melkiory C., 2010. "Using the Hawthorne effect to examine the gap between a doctor's best possible practice and actual performance," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 226-234, November.
    2. Michael Kremer & Jessica Leino & Edward Miguel & Alix Peterson Zwane, 2011. "Spring Cleaning: Rural Water Impacts, Valuation, and Property Rights Institutions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 145-205.
    3. Jessica Cohen & Pascaline Dupas & Simone Schaner, 2015. "Price Subsidies, Diagnostic Tests, and Targeting of Malaria Treatment: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(2), pages 609-645, February.
    4. Currie, Janet & Lin, Wanchuan & Meng, Juanjuan, 2014. "Addressing antibiotic abuse in China: An experimental audit study," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 39-51.
    5. Toshiaki Iizuka, 2012. "Physician Agency and Adoption of Generic Pharmaceuticals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2826-2858, October.
    6. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Rachel Glennerster, 2008. "Putting a Band-Aid on a Corpse: Incentives for Nurses in the Indian Public Health Care System," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(2-3), pages 487-500, 04-05.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Communicable Diseases; Cholera; Malaria; Leprosy; Health Care Services Industry; Taxation&Subsidies; Pharmaceuticals Industry; Health Service Management and Delivery;
    All these keywords.

    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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