Abstract In the United States, two patients with the same medical condition can receive
drastically different treatments. In addition, the same patient can walk into two physicians' …

John Wheat review a complex literature on the determinants of consumer behavior in
purchasing health care. Although they concluded that need is the primary determinant of …

Prologue: During the 1980s, as alternative medical care delivery systems have proliferated
and nonprofit and commercial health insurance carriers have competed to remain viable …

This chapter reviews the theory and empirical literature on physician market power,
behavior, and motives, referred to collectively as the issue of “physician agency.” The …

Physicians are often blamed for the high cost of healthcare in the US. Physicians dupe
patients into consuming too much care, the story goes, driving up costs without producing …

This chapter summarizes research in behavioral health economics, focusing on insurance
markets and product markets in health care. We argue that the prevalence of choice …

PUBLIC and professional concern about the cost of medical care has evoked a variety of
proposed remedies. Professional societies have promulgated guidelines to help physicians …

Assuming a goal of arriving at a treatment decision which is based on the physician's
knowledge and the patient's preferences, we discuss the feasibility of implementing two …

This article addresses the impact of financial incentives on physician behavior, focusing on
quality of care. Changing market conditions, evolving social forces, and continuing …

In a laboratory experiment designed to capture key aspects of the interaction between
physicians and patients, we study the effects of medical insurance and competition in the …