IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedbwp/09-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Geographic variations in a model of physician treatment choice with social interactions

Author

Listed:
  • Mary A. Burke
  • Gary M. Fournier
  • Kislaya Prasad

Abstract

Location-specific norms of behavior are a widespread phenomenon. In the case of medical practice, numerous studies have found that geographic location exerts a strong influence on the choice of treatments and procedures. This paper shows how the presence of social influence on treatment decisions can help to explain this phenomenon. We construct a theoretical model in which physicians' treatment choices depend on patients' characteristics and on the recent choices of nearby peers - either because there are local knowledge spillovers or because physicians want to conform to local practice patterns. In our model, regional differences in the patient mix give rise to geographically divergent treatment patterns - the treatment a patient receives depends on where she lives. Investigation of Florida data reveals significant geographic variation in treatment rates consistent with the predictions of our model. Implications for patient welfare are explored.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary A. Burke & Gary M. Fournier & Kislaya Prasad, 2009. "Geographic variations in a model of physician treatment choice with social interactions," Working Papers 09-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:09-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp2009/wp0905.htm
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/wp/wp2009/wp0905.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amitabh Chandra & Douglas O. Staiger, 2007. "Productivity Spillovers in Health Care: Evidence from the Treatment of Heart Attacks," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(1), pages 103-140.
    2. Ellison, Glenn, 1993. "Learning, Local Interaction, and Coordination," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(5), pages 1047-1071, September.
    3. Shinichi Nakagawa, 2004. "A farewell to Bonferroni: the problems of low statistical power and publication bias," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 15(6), pages 1044-1045, November.
    4. William A. Brock & Steven N. Durlauf, 2001. "Discrete Choice with Social Interactions," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(2), pages 235-260.
    5. Amitabh Chandra & Douglas Staiger, 2004. "Testing a Roy Model with Productivity Spillovers: Evidence from the Treatment of Heart Attacks," NBER Working Papers 10811, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Folland, Sherman & Stano, Miron, 1989. "Sources of small area variations in the use of medical care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 85-107, March.
    7. Mary Burke & Gary Fournier, 2005. "The Emergence of Local Norms in Networks," Computing in Economics and Finance 2005 299, Society for Computational Economics.
    8. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1994. "A Theory of Conformity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 841-877, October.
    9. Grytten, Jostein & Sorensen, Rune, 2003. "Practice variation and physician-specific effects," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 403-418, May.
    10. Mary A. Burke & Gary M. Fournier & Kislaya Prasad, 2007. "The Diffusion of a Medical Innovation: Is Success in the Stars?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 588-603, January.
    11. H. Peyton Young & Mary A. Burke, 2001. "Competition and Custom in Economic Contracts: A Case Study of Illinois Agriculture," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 559-573, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. H Peyton Young, 2014. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Economics Series Working Papers 726, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Arieli, Itai & Babichenko, Yakov & Peretz, Ron & Young, H. Peyton, 2020. "The speed of innovation diffusion in social networks," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102538, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Itai Arieli & Yakov Babichenko & Ron Peretz & H. Peyton Young, 2018. "The Speed of Innovation Diffusion," Economics Papers 2018-W06, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    4. Emily Tanimura, 2021. "Statistical discrimination without knowing statistics: blame social interactions?," Working Papers hal-03096126, HAL.
    5. H Peyton Young & Sam Jindani, 2020. "The dynamics of costly social norms," Economics Series Working Papers 883, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Mangham-Jefferies, Lindsay & Hanson, Kara & Mbacham, Wilfred & Onwujekwe, Obinna & Wiseman, Virginia, 2014. "What determines providers' stated preference for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 98-106.
    7. Wallace, Chris & Young, H. Peyton, 2015. "Stochastic Evolutionary Game Dynamics," Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications,, Elsevier.
    8. Emilia Simeonova & Niels Skipper & Peter R. Thingholm, 2020. "Physician Health Management Skills and Patient Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 26735, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. H Peyton Young & Itai Arieli & Yakov Babichenko & Ron Peretz, 2019. "The Speed of Innovation Diffusion in Social Networks," Economics Series Working Papers 884, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    10. Sergei Koulayev & Emilia Simeonova & Niels Skipper, 2017. "Can Physicians Affect Patient Adherence With Medication?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(6), pages 779-794, June.
    11. Peter Rønø Thingholm, 2023. "Provider Spill-Overs in Opioid Prescription Leniency and Patient – Labor Market Outcomes," Economics Working Papers 2023-05, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    12. Brosig-Koch, Jeannette & Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Kairies-Schwarz, Nadja & Kokot, Johanna & Wiesen, Daniel, 2020. "Physician performance pay: Experimental evidence," HERO Online Working Paper Series 2020:3, University of Oslo, Health Economics Research Programme.
    13. Itai Arieli & Yakov Babichenko & Ron Peretz & H. Peyton Young, 2019. "The Speed of Innovation Diffusion in Social Networks," Economics Papers 2019-W07, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    14. Itai Arieli & Yakov Babichenko & Ron Peretz & H. Peyton Young, 2020. "The Speed of Innovation Diffusion in Social Networks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 569-594, March.
    15. Emily Tanimura, 2021. "Statistical discrimination without knowing statistics: blame social interactions?," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03096126, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. H Peyton Young, 2014. "The Evolution of Social Norms," Economics Series Working Papers 726, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Dunia López-Pintado & Duncan J. Watts, 2008. "Social Influence, Binary Decisions and Collective Dynamics," Rationality and Society, , vol. 20(4), pages 399-443, November.
    3. Bramoulle, Yann, 2007. "Anti-coordination and social interactions," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 30-49, January.
    4. Steven N. Durlauf & Yannis M. Ioannides, 2010. "Social Interactions," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 451-478, September.
    5. H Peyton Young & Sam Jindani, 2020. "The dynamics of costly social norms," Economics Series Working Papers 883, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Huesch, Marco D., 2011. "Is blood thicker than water? Peer effects in stent utilization among Floridian cardiologists," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(12), pages 1756-1765.
    7. Opolot, Daniel & Azomahou, Theophile, 2012. "Learning and convergence in networks," MERIT Working Papers 2012-074, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    8. Wang, Haoluan, 2017. "Land Conservation for Open Space: The Impact of Neighbors and the Natural Environment," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258125, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Norman, Thomas W.L., 2009. "Rapid evolution under inertia," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 865-879, July.
    10. Roland Pongou & Roberto Serrano, 2009. "A Dynamic Theory of Fidelity Networks with an Application to the Spread of HIV/AIDS," Working Papers 2009-2, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    11. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    12. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Weidenholzer, Simon, 2014. "Imitation and the role of information in overcoming coordination failures," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 397-411.
    13. Blume,L.E. & Durlauf,S.N., 2005. "Identifying social interactions : a review," Working papers 12, Wisconsin Madison - Social Systems.
    14. Emily Tanimura, 2021. "Statistical discrimination without knowing statistics: blame social interactions?," Working Papers hal-03096126, HAL.
    15. Timur Kuran & William H. Sandholm, 2008. "Cultural Integration and Its Discontents," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 75(1), pages 201-228.
    16. Fulin Guo, 2023. "Experience-weighted attraction learning in network coordination games," Papers 2310.18835, arXiv.org.
    17. Eibich, Peter & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2014. "Analyzing regional variation in health care utilization using (rich) household microdata," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 41-53.
    18. Floortje Alkemade & Carolina Castaldi, 2005. "Strategies for the Diffusion of Innovations on Social Networks," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 25(1), pages 3-23, February.
    19. López-Pintado, Dunia, 2008. "Diffusion in complex social networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 573-590, March.
    20. Grajzl, Peter & Baniak, Andrzej, 2012. "Mandating behavioral conformity in social groups with conformist members," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 479-493.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Medical care;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedbwp:09-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Spozio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbbous.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.