Healthcare Variation and Physician Agency

Module 2 covers geographic (both across and within) variation in healthcare utilization and expenditures. We’ll discuss the causes of such variation, focusing first on demand vs. supply-side explanations. We’ll then discuss the role of physician agency as one critical supply-side factor.

Healthcare Variation

List of Key Papers (click to expand)

Physician Agency

For theoretical background on principal-agent problems more generally, take a look at Grossman and Hart (1983).

List of Key Papers (click to expand)

Supplemental References

Grossman, Sanford J, and Oliver D Hart. 1983. “An Analysis of the Principal-Agent Problem.” Econometrica, 7–45.