IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/20878.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Local Influence of Pioneer Investigators on Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Cancer Drugs

Author

Listed:
  • Leila Agha
  • David Molitor

Abstract

Local opinion leaders may play a key role in easing information frictions associated with technology adoption. This paper analyzes the influence of physician investigators who lead clinical trials for new cancer drugs. By comparing diffusion patterns across 21 new cancer drugs, we separate correlated regional demand for new technology from information spillovers. Patients in the lead investigator's region are initially 36% more likely to receive the new drug, but utilization converges within four years. We also find that “superstar ” physician authors, measured by trial role or citation history, have broader influence than less prominent authors.

Suggested Citation

  • Leila Agha & David Molitor, 2015. "The Local Influence of Pioneer Investigators on Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Cancer Drugs," NBER Working Papers 20878, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20878
    Note: EH PR
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20878.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    2. Pierre Azoulay & Joshua S. Graff Zivin & Bhaven N. Sampat, 2011. "The Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge across Time and Space: Evidence from Professional Transitions for the Superstars of Medicine," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited, pages 107-155, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jonathan Skinner & Douglas Staiger, 2007. "Technology Adoption from Hybrid Corn to Beta-Blockers," NBER Chapters, in: Hard-to-Measure Goods and Services: Essays in Honor of Zvi Griliches, pages 545-570, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. 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.
    5. Dmitriev, Mikhail & Comin, Diego & Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban, 2012. "The Spatial Diffusion of Technology," CEPR Discussion Papers 9208, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Escarce, JoseJ., 1996. "Externalities in hospitals and physician adoption of a new surgical technology: An exploratory analysis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 715-734, December.
    7. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Sam Watson’s journal round-up for 12th March 2018
      by Sam Watson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2018-03-12 12:00:42

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Marisa Miraldo & Carol Propper & Christiern Rose, 2020. "Identification of Peer Effects using Panel Data," Discussion Papers Series 639, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    2. Frankovic, Ivan & Kuhn, Michael & Wrzaczek, Stefan, 2020. "Medical innovation and its diffusion: Implications for economic performance and welfare," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Ghanbariamin, Roksana & Chung, Bobby W., 2020. "The effect of the National Kidney Registry on the kidney-exchange market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    4. Méndez, Susan J. & Scott, Anthony & Zhang, Yuting, 2021. "Gender differences in physician decisions to adopt new prescription drugs," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    5. Barrenho, Eliana & Miraldo, Marisa & Propper, Carol & Walsh, Brendan, 2021. "The importance of surgeons and their peers in adoption and diffusion of innovation: An observational study of laparoscopic colectomy adoption and diffusion in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).
    6. Dranove, David & Garthwaite, Craig & Heard, Christopher & Wu, Bingxiao, 2022. "The economics of medical procedure innovation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Laura Grigolon & Laura Lasio, 2023. "Biased Beliefs and Stigma as Barriers to Treatment and Innovation Adoption," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_277v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    8. Kevin A. Bryan & Heidi L. Williams, 2021. "Innovation: Market Failures and Public Policies," NBER Working Papers 29173, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Maya M. Durvasula & Sabri Eyuboglu & David M. Ritzwoller, 2024. "Distilling Data from Large Language Models: An Application to Research Productivity Measurement," Papers 2405.08030, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2024.
    10. Leila Agha & Dan Zeltzer, 2022. "Drug Diffusion through Peer Networks: The Influence of Industry Payments," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 1-33, May.
    11. Bastian Rake & Pablo D’Este & Maureen McKelvey, 2021. "Exploring network dynamics in science: the formation of ties to knowledge translators in clinical research," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 1433-1464, November.
    12. O'Malley, A. James & Bubolz, Thomas A. & Skinner, Jonathan S., 2023. "The diffusion of health care fraud: A bipartite network analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    13. Karine Lamiraud & Stephane Lhuillery, 2016. "Endogenous Technology Adoption and Medical Costs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1123-1147, September.
    14. Diego A. Comin & Jonathan S. Skinner & Douglas O. Staiger, 2022. "Overconfidence and Technology Adoption in Health Care," NBER Working Papers 30345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. McKibbin, Rebecca, 2023. "The effect of RCTs on drug demand: Evidence from off-label cancer drugs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    16. Wu, Bingxiao & David, Guy, 2022. "Information, relative skill, and technology abandonment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Kenneth J. Arrow & L. Kamran Bilir & Alan Sorensen, 2020. "The Impact of Information Technology on the Diffusion of New Pharmaceuticals," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 1-39, July.
    18. Sebastian Calónico & Rafael Di Tella & Juan Cruz Lopez del Valle, 2023. "The Political Economy of a “Miracle Cure”: The Case of Nebulized Ibuprofen and its Diffusion in Argentina," NBER Working Papers 31781, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Avdic, Daniel & von Hinke, Stephanie & Lagerqvist, Bo & Propper, Carol & Vikström, Johan, 2024. "Do responses to news matter? Evidence from interventional cardiology," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. A. James O'Malley & Thomas A. Bubolz & Jonathan S. Skinner, 2021. "The Diffusion of Health Care Fraud: A Network Analysis," NBER Working Papers 28560, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Barrenho, E.; & Miraldo, M.; & Propper, C; & Rose, C.;, 2019. "Peer and network effects in medical innovation: the case of laparoscopic surgery in the English NHS," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 19/10, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    22. Lucarelli, Claudio & Nicholson, Sean & Tilipman, Nicholas, 2022. "Price Indices and the Value of Innovation with Heterogenous Patients," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    23. Rebecca McKibbin & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2021. "Does Research Save Lives? The Local Spillovers of Biomedical Research on Mortality," NBER Working Papers 29420, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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. Anne E. Hall, 2015. "Regional Patterns in Medical Technology Utilization," BEA Working Papers 0126, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    2. 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.
    3. Keith Head & Yao Amber Li & Asier Minondo, 2019. "Geography, Ties, and Knowledge Flows: Evidence from Citations in Mathematics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 713-727, October.
    4. Diemer, Andreas & Regan, Tanner, 2022. "No inventor is an island: Social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    5. Karine Lamiraud & Stephane Lhuillery, 2016. "Endogenous Technology Adoption and Medical Costs," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1123-1147, September.
    6. Freedman, Seth & Lin, Haizhen & Simon, Kosali, 2015. "Public health insurance expansions and hospital technology adoption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 117-131.
    7. Contreras Juan & Patel Elena & Tristao Ignez, 2013. "Production Factors, Productivity Dynamics and Quality Gains as Determinants of Healthcare Spending Growth in U.S. Hospitals," Working Papers 2013-13, Banco de México.
    8. Ina Ganguli, 2015. "Immigration and Ideas: What Did Russian Scientists "Bring" to the United States?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(S1), pages 257-288.
    9. Baltagi, Badi H. & Moscone, Francesco, 2010. "Health care expenditure and income in the OECD reconsidered: Evidence from panel data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 804-811, July.
    10. Jens Ruhose, 2015. "Microeconometric Analyses on Economic Consequences of Selective Migration," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 61.
    11. Amitabh Chandra & Amy Finkelstein & Adam Sacarny & Chad Syverson, 2016. "Health Care Exceptionalism? Performance and Allocation in the US Health Care Sector," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(8), pages 2110-2144, August.
    12. Horn, Danea & Sacarny, Adam & Zhou, Annetta, 2022. "Technology adoption and market allocation: The case of robotic surgery," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Comin, Diego & Mestieri, Martí, 2014. "Technology Diffusion: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 2, pages 565-622, Elsevier.
    14. Ines Lindner & Holger Strulik, 2020. "Innovation And Inequality In A Small World," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 61(2), pages 683-719, May.
    15. Cutler, David M., 2007. "The lifetime costs and benefits of medical technology," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1081-1100, December.
    16. Vincenzo Atella & Joanna Kopinska, 2018. "New Technologies and Costs," CEIS Research Paper 442, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 09 Aug 2018.
    17. Jeffrey Clemens, 2012. "The Effect of U.S. Health Insurance Expansions on Medical Innovation," Discussion Papers 11-016, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    18. Nick Pantaleo & Finn Poschmann & Scott Wilkie, 2013. "Improving the Tax Treatment of Intellectual Property Income in Canada," C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, C.D. Howe Institute, issue 379, April.
    19. Francesco Di Comite & D'Artis Kancs & Wouter Torfs, 2015. "Macroeconomic Modelling of R&D and Innovation Policies," JRC Research Reports JRC89558, Joint Research Centre.
    20. Mickael Bech & Terkel Christiansen & Kelly Dunham & Jørgen Lauridsen & Carl Hampus Lyttkens & Kathryn McDonald & Alistair McGuire & and the TECH Investigators, 2009. "The influence of economic incentives and regulatory factors on the adoption of treatment technologies: a case study of technologies used to treat heart attacks," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(10), pages 1114-1132, October.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    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:nbr:nberwo:20878. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.