【Empirical/Micro Seminar】Bargaining over Health Treatments
2026/11/16
研討會日期 : 2026-11-16
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Professor Ching-to Albert Ma
地點 : Conference Room B110
主持人 : Professor Tzu-Ting Yang
演講者簡介 : Dr. Ching-to Albert Ma received his Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1988. He is currently a Professor of Economics at Boston University. His research interests are Incentives, Industrial Organization, and Health Economics.
演講摘要 : We model treatment choice as a bargaining outcome between a patient and a physician. Nash bargaining solution selects a treatment that maximizes the joint surplus from the physician-patient coalition. Empirical tests of the bargaining solution predictions are performed on Taiwan National Health Insurance 1998-2012 data on hysterectomies. Hysterectomies were performed by conventional surgeries and laparoscopic surgeries. Two events form the basis of the empirical analyses. First, in 2006, reimbursements for some laparoscopic hysterectomies were reduced by over 30%. Second, patients covered by social disability insurance would lose a significant cash benefit from hysterectomies when they become 45 years old. We use an event study empirical method to analyze the impacts. The 2006 laparoscopic rate cut reduces the percentage of laparoscopic hysterectomies. As patient's 45th birthday event becomes imminent, more laparoscopic hysterectomies are performed. Treatment choices are consistent with bargaining predictions, which are also robust against different sample choices.
