On Monday, June 11 2018, 14:00 - 15:30, Katharina Blankart (CINCH, University Duisburg-Essen) will present:

The downside of the policy coin: explaining changes in off- vs. on-patent drug utilization - a decomposition approach

Generic utilization has increased at a faster rate than that of pharmaceuticals under patent protection within the last decade. In this study, we analyze to what extent the differences in changes in utilization between generic and brand name versions of pharmaceuticals over time can be explained by variation in promotional activity, competition, regulation for efficient prescribing and characteristics relevant to the prescribing physicians. We compile data from a list of generic entries, European Medicines agency brand name market authorizations, a panel of 3,025 prescribing physicians, promotional data at molecule level and information on policies for efficient drug use in Germany between 2011 and 2014. We employ an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition approach to identify the share of unexplained variation between 1) on-patent (70 substances) and off-patent markets (51 substances) and 2) generic and brand name markets in the off-patent market (49 substances each). We account for common support of the explanatory variables and drug class fixed effects. Outcome variables reflect growth rates and first differences by the number of prescriptions, sales, number of patients prescribed and prescriptions per patient between the first quarters of 2011 and 2014. The partial regression results suggest heterogeneous effects of promotion and regulation specific characteristics (share of aut-idem prescriptions, reference pricing) by outcomes analyzed while changes in competition had similar effects. Across outcome specifications, we find that the component attributable to differences in the observed characteristics of off-patent and on patent markets (5.66% at maximum) and generic and branded substances (8.85% maximum) is small. Our results may suggest specification of a generic market structure function. Increases in generic utilization seem largely beyond regulators’ control of economically efficient prescribing

Room: WST-C.02.12, Weststadttürme Berliner Platz 6-8, Essen

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On Monday, June 4 2018, 14:00 - 15:30, Markus Fels (TU Dortmund) will present:

Incentivizing Efficient Utilization Without Reducing Access: The Case Against Cost-Sharing in Insurance

Cost-sharing is regarded as an important tool to reduce moral hazard in health insurance. Contrary to standard prediction, however, such requirements are found to decrease utilization both of efficient and of inefficient care. I employ a simple model that incorporates two possible explanations - consumer mistakes and limited access - to assess the welfare implications of different insurance designs. I find cost-sharing never to be an optimal solution as it produces two novel inefficiencies by limiting access. An alternative design, relying on bonuses, has no such side effects and achieves the same incentivization.

Room: WST-C.02.12, Weststadttürme Berliner Platz 6-8, Essen

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On Monday, May 28 2018, 14:00 - 15:30, Petra Thiemann (University of Lund) will present:

Closing the Teacher Quality Gap? An Empirical Analysis of Teacher-to-Classroom Assignment Problems

Disadvantaged students are frequently matched with low-quality teachers, even within schools. It is however unclear whether alternative teacher assignment schemes would lead to better average education outcomes or to more equal education outcomes.  To investigate potential gains from alternative teacher assignment schemes we consider an education production function in which the returns to teacher quality can differ across students with different ability levels. Our data comes from a field experiment where teachers were randomly assigned to classrooms within schools. We derive and test the assumptions under which the complementarity between teacher quality and student ability can be identified, also taking peer effects into account; based on the model we find empirical evidence for complementarity between teacher quality and student ability in the field experiment.

Room: WST-C.02.12, Weststadttürme Berliner Platz 6-8, Essen

To find more on upcoming seminars, click here.