Policy Seminars -- Fall 2007
| Speaker: Jason Snyder -- Northwestern University |
| Topic: Competition and Socially Responsible Behavior: Evidence from the Liver Transplant Market |
| Date/Place/Time: December 14, 2007 / UCLA Anderson School -- Entrepreneurs Hall C303 / 1:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. |
| Abstract: This paper examines the impact of competition on ethical behavior in the liver transplant market. Prior to March 1, 2002, livers were allocated by a standards based regime in which strategic misrepresentation of severity of patient illness could enhance a center’s chances of performing a transplant. After March 1, 2002, a rules based allocation regime was introduced that eliminated subjective factors in the allocation of livers. Using this policy change for identification, I show that centers in highly competitive transplant markets were more willing to misrepresent patient health status in order to obtain livers for relatively healthy patients, thereby denying access to sicker patients at competing centers. Current ethical and organizational practices appear to be insufficient to deter health care providers from engaging in socially harmful behavior in competitive markets, which has implications for strategy and the design of a broad set of health care policies. |
| Links to papers: Click here for paper |