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Location choice and quality competition in mixed hospital markets

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  • Hehenkamp, Burkhard
  • Kaarbøe, Oddvar M.

Abstract

Many countries have opened their health care markets to private for-profit providers, aiming to promote quality and choice for patients. The prices are regulated and providers compete in location and quality. We show that whereas opening a public hospital market typically raises quality, the private provider strategically locates towards the corner of the market to avoid costly quality competition. Social welfare depends on the size of the regulator’s budget and on the altruism of the public provider. If the budget is large, high quality results and welfare is highest in a duopoly whenever entry is optimal. If the budget is small, quality levels in a duopoly mirror the quality level in a monopoly. It can be optimal for the regulator not to use the full budget.

Suggested Citation

  • Hehenkamp, Burkhard & Kaarbøe, Oddvar M., 2020. "Location choice and quality competition in mixed hospital markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 641-660.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:177:y:2020:i:c:p:641-660
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2020.06.026
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    Cited by:

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    3. Bisceglia, Michele & Padilla, Jorge & Piccolo, Salvatore & Sääskilahti, Pekka, 2023. "On the bright side of market concentration in a mixed-oligopoly healthcare industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    4. Walter Beckert & Elaine Kelly, 2021. "Divided by choice? For‐profit providers, patient choice and mechanisms of patient sorting in the English National Health Service," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(4), pages 820-839, April.
    5. Park, Junseok & Moon, Ilkyeong, 2023. "A facility location problem in a mixed duopoly on networks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    6. Ghandour, Ziad & Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2022. "Investment and quality competition in healthcare markets," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    7. Ziad Ghandour & Odd Rune Straume, 2022. "Optimal funding coverage in a mixed oligopoly with quality competition and price regulation," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 201-225, August.
    8. Xinyu Li & Christian Waibel, 2021. "Patients' free choice of physicians is not always good," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2751-2765, November.
    9. Ge Ge & Tor Iversen & Oddvar Kaarbøe & Øyvind Snilsberg, 2024. "Impacts of Norway's extended free choice reform on waiting times and hospital visits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 779-803, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quality competition; Mixed oligopoly; Price regulation; Location choice; Product differentiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

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