Prescription behavior of physicians in the public and private sector

Elina Jussila (), Kaisa Kotakorpi () and Jouko Verho
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Elina Jussila: Tampere University and Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT)
Kaisa Kotakorpi: Tampere University, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research (FIT), VATT Institute for Economic Research and CESifo

No 5, Working Papers from Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research

Abstract: We analyze prescription behavior of physicians in the public and private sector. We study two major diseases for which an effective, widely accepted low-cost treatment and alternative, more expensive treatments are available. We find that private sector physicians are more likely to prescribe the expensive medication. The result holds after controlling for individual-level factors including health indicators based on detailed administrative data, and patient fixed effects. In one of our cases, we further find that the same physicians prescribe different medication when working in different sectors. These results are consistent with higher 2nd degree moral hazard in the private sector.

Keywords: taxation; emigration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H42 I11 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2022-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-mfd and nep-pbe
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Published in FIT Working Paper Series, Finnish Center of Excellence in Tax Systems Research

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Working Paper: Prescription Behavior of Physicians in the Public and Private Sector (2022)
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