Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
7-2023
Abstract
We analyze changes in the willingness to substitute from prescribed pharmaceuticals to more affordable generic equivalents in response to the first experience with a substitution. Using Swedish individual-level data of prescribed and dispensed pharmaceuticals, we em-ploy a dynamic event study and an instrumental variable approach to show that an initial substitution reduces the probability of opposing subsequent substitutions by 39 percent-age points. We recommend that policy-makers target patients with a history of opposed substitution and offer additional discounts to promote substitution as long-term savings outweigh one-time costs.
Keywords
Generic substitution, Pharmaceuticals, Health care costs
Discipline
Behavioral Economics | Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Volume
213
First Page
1
Last Page
25
ISSN
0167-2681
Identifier
10.1016/j.jebo.2023.07.017
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
JANSSEN, Aljoscha and GRANLUND, David.
The importance of the first generic substitution: Evidence from Sweden. (2023). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. 213, 1-25.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2697
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.07.017