【主讲】Jungwoon Yeo (新加坡管理大学)
【主题】Estimating Switching Costs with Market Share Data: An Application to Medicare Part D
【时间】2016年5月20日 (周五) 15：30-17：00
【地点】上海财经大学经济学院楼701室
【语言】英文
【摘要】Choice inertia and switching frictions are well documented features of the demand for health insurance. In this paper, we estimate switching costs in the Medicare Part D market using a discrete choice framework for aggregate market share data. We consider various modelling assumptions: myopic and forward-looking consumers, and with and without random coefficients. As for the forward-looking consumer model, we build an estimation procedure, based upon recent methodological developments, to utilize the no random coefficients feature of the model. Both myopic and forward-looking consumer models with no random coefficients yield switching cost estimates that match the actual average switching frequency remarkably well. The implied dollar-valued switching costs range from $1,500 to $1,800. According to the forward-looking model estimates, the average welfare loss due to switching costs is negligible in the program's inception year, but grows to over $400 in later years as enrollees choose to remain in sub-optimal plans to avoid switching costs.
