Essays in Health Economics

Abstract

This dissertation presents three empirical studies that are broadly concerned with the valuation of human health and the evaluation of policies designed to improve it. The first study evaluates how a supply-side policy intended to restrict drug diversion, prescription monitoring, affects opioid prescribing and pain management in hospitals and homes. The results indicate that prescription monitoring reduces opioid use in outpatient settings not but in hospitals, and appears to have only modest effects on pain management, with suggestive evidence indicating that it enables more effective targeting of opioid therapy. The second study reevaluates the labor market evidence on compensating differentials for fatal injury risk, showing that the standard estimator for the sample mean value of a statistical life (VSL) is biased when the compensating differentials vary across the wage distribution and that correcting for this bias is quantitatively significant. The last study revisits an old question with a new identification strategy, using the financing mechanism for state medical boards as an instrument for local physician supply in order to evaluate the impact of supply shocks on local health care markets. The results indicate that a larger physician supply leads to changes in the style of medical practice but the welfare implications of this are unclear.