Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD

Petra Persson, Xinyao Qiu and Maya Rossin-Slater

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 225-56

Abstract: The health care system uses patient family medical history in many settings, and this practice is widely believed to improve the efficiency of health care allocation. This paper provides a counterpoint by documenting that reliance on hereditary information can amplify the misallocation of low-value care. We study Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and show that reliance on family medical history generates a "snowball effect"—the propagation of an original marginal diagnosis to a patient's relatives. This snowball effect raises the private and social costs of low-value care.

JEL-codes: H51 I12 I13 I18 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:225-56

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DOI: 10.1257/app.20230303

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