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Incentive effects in the demand for health care: a bivariate panel count data estimation
Author(s) -
Riphahn Regina T.,
Wambach Achim,
Million Andreas
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of applied econometrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.878
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1099-1255
pISSN - 0883-7252
DOI - 10.1002/jae.680
Subject(s) - bivariate analysis , estimator , panel data , moral hazard , estimation , adverse selection , econometrics , random effects model , incentive , count data , actuarial science , economics , statistics , health care , test (biology) , medicine , mathematics , meta analysis , microeconomics , economic growth , management , poisson distribution , paleontology , biology
Abstract This paper contributes in three dimensions to the literature on health care demand. First, it features the first application of a bivariate random effects estimator in a count data setting, to permit the efficient estimation of this type of model with panel data. Second, it provides an innovative test of adverse selection and confirms that high‐risk individuals are more likely to acquire supplemental add‐on insurance. Third, the estimations yield that in accordance with the theory of moral hazard, we observe a much lower frequency of doctor visits among the self‐employed, and among mothers of small children. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.