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Optimal Rationing within a Heterogeneous Population

Author

Listed:
  • Philippe Choné

    (ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique)

  • Stéphane Gauthier

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

A government agency delegates to a provider (hospital, medical gatekeeper, school, social worker) the decision to supply a service or treatment to individual recipients. The agency does not perfectly know the distribution of individual treatment costs in the population. The single-crossing property is not satisfied when the uncertainty pertains to the dispersion of the distribution. We find that the provision of service should then be distorted upwards relative to efficiency when the (first-best) efficient number of recipients is sufficiently high.

Suggested Citation

  • Philippe Choné & Stéphane Gauthier, 2014. "Optimal Rationing within a Heterogeneous Population," Post-Print halshs-00983063, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00983063
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00983063
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James M. Malcomson, 2005. "Supplier Discretion Over Provision: Theory and an Application to Medical Care," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(2), pages 412-429, Summer.
    2. Araujo, Aloisio & Moreira, Humberto, 2010. "Adverse selection problems without the Spence-Mirrlees condition," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(3), pages 1113-1141, May.
    3. Jullien, Bruno, 2000. "Participation Constraints in Adverse Selection Models," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-47, July.
    4. Brigitte Dormont & Carine Milcent, 2005. "How to Regulate Heterogeneous Hospitals?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 591-621, September.
    5. De Fraja, Gianni, 2000. "Contracts for health care and asymmetric information," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 663-677, September.
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    7. Lewis, Tracy R. & Sappington, David E. M., 1989. "Countervailing incentives in agency problems," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 294-313, December.
    8. Miltiadis Makris & Luigi Siciliani, 2013. "Optimal Incentive Schemes for Altruistic Providers," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 15(5), pages 675-699, October.
    9. Brigitte Dormont & Carine Milcent, 2005. "How to Regulate Heterogeneous Hospitals?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(3), pages 591-621, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rationing; screening; universal coverage; upward distortion; Spence-Mirrlees condition; Rationnement; sélection; couverture universelle; distorsion à la hausse; condition de Spence-Mirrlees;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis

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