Promoting Wellness or Waste? Evidence from Antidepressant Advertising

Bradley T. Shapiro

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 439-77

Abstract: It is taken as given by many policy makers that Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of prescription drugs drives inappropriate patients to treatment. Alternatively, advertising may provide useful information that causes appropriate patients to seek treatment. I study this dynamic in the context of antidepressants. Leveraging variation driven by the borders of television markets, I find that a 10 percent increase in anti-depressant advertising leads to a 0.3 percent ($32 million) increase in new prescriptions followed by reductions in workplace absenteeism worth about $770 million. I find no effect of advertising on prices, generic penetration, drug switches, adverse effects, non-adherence rates, or therapist visits.

JEL-codes: D83 I12 J22 L65 M31 M37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1257/mic.20190277

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