Data and Code for: Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs?

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Carolina Lopez, Brown University; Anja Sautmann, World Bank; Simone Schaner, University of Southern California

Version: View help for Version V1

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Project Citation:

Lopez, Carolina, Sautmann, Anja, and Schaner, Simone. Data and Code for: Does Patient Demand Contribute to the Overuse of Prescription Drugs? Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2021. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-12-17. https://doi.org/10.3886/E126722V1

Project Description

Summary: In an experiment in Mali, we test whether patients pressure providers to prescribe medical treatment they do not necessarily need. We varied patients’ information about a discount for antimalarial tablets and measured demand for both tablets and costlier antimalarial injections. We find evidence of patient-driven demand: informing patients about the discount, instead of letting doctors decide to share this information, increased discount use by 35 percent and overall malaria treatment by 10 percent. These marginal patients rarely had malaria, worsening the illness-treatment match. Providers did not use the information advantage to sell injections - their use fell in both information conditions.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: malaria treatment; demand for prescription drugs; healt care overuse; doctor-patient interaction

JEL Classification:
      I12 Health Behavior
      I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
      O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

Geographic Coverage: Bamako and Kati, Mali

Universe: Patients visiting 60 clinics in Bamako and neighboring Kati.

Data Type(s): experimental data; survey data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation: Individual patients

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Published Versions

V1 [2021-12-17]

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DDI 2.5

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