@hec-wiley.bsky.social
The official Bluesky account of Health Economics. Featuring theoretical contributions, empirical studies and analyses of health policy from the economic perspective.
New evidence shows that growing up in families receiving larger Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits reduces work disability in adulthood.
Long-term income support does more than fight poverty — it shapes lifelong health.
tinyurl.com/4ww5hjtr
Health Economics Volume 35, Issue 1 is out.
The cover looks calm. The papers inside are anything but — sharp methods, tough questions, and a few results that challenge conventional wisdom.
Don't judge a journal by its cover — even when it looks this good!
tinyurl.com/4kvxpekb
A new study shows why preterm birth and low birth weight should be analyzed together, not separately. Using a copula-based model, the authors reveal strong joint risks and clear geographic and maternal factors that shape them.
Better tools, better targeting.
tinyurl.com/bp5ypwzk
In-utero exposure to COVID medical-procedure delay orders raised the likelihood of an adverse birth-outcome diagnosis by 13% (from a 6% baseline) and pushed prenatal care toward telehealth.
Delaying “non-urgent” pregnancy care has real costs.
tinyurl.com/5rtuy5y7
China’s 2006 campaign against a major parasitic infection dramatically improved more than health. Children exposed in utero later had fewer outpatient visits, better nutrition, and stronger school outcomes.
Fighting neglected diseases builds human capital.
tinyurl.com/ycx3r45f
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The catch: scale improves total appointment capacity, but not necessarily speed.
Larger practices generate more care, yet the share of “timely” appointments falls slightly as size increases.
Bottom line: scale expands access, but doesn’t solve waits.
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Skill-mix matters too. Cost-optimal staffing ratios require more nurses and DPC staff than practices currently employ. Nurses in particular deliver high appointment volumes at relatively low cost.
Small practices simply can’t unlock this productivity.
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And the productivity advantage grows with size.
Across outputs (total appointments, GP slots, timely 2-day access), marginal returns rise sharply at the 75th percentile of practice size.
Scale isn’t just about volume; it amplifies each added worker’s impact.
2/
The study models how practices convert staff into appointments. The punchline: bigger practices squeeze more appointments out of every additional clinician.
At median admin staffing, 1 extra GP → +223 appointments/month. 1 extra nurse/DPC → +152.
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Primary care is drowning in demand. Policymakers keep pushing “scale” as the fix. But does scaling up actually produce more care? New evidence from 6,149 GP practices in England gives a rare, data-driven answer. tinyurl.com/mpbmvbd2
🧵 👇
New evidence from Germany shows that income matters more for well-being when people are sick. The marginal utility of income rises in sickness, implying insurance is more valuable than standard models assume. Sickness has a real “fixed cost.”
26.11.2025 19:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Argentina’s zero-tolerance drunk-driving laws didn’t deliver. A new study finds no drop in traffic deaths and higher injury rates after adoption, with little change in drinking behavior. Tough rules didn’t shift the risks that matter.
Policy intent ≠ policy impact. tinyurl.com/7dkxbbw9
Most health studies model doctor and non-doctor visits separately. This paper shows why that misses the point: the two are tightly linked, driven by shared behaviors and unobserved traits.
Joint modeling reveals who actually uses care—and how.
👉 tinyurl.com/5e7zanfu
New US claims data show a sharp ⬇️ in children’s asthma medication adherence during COVID — especially among the youngest children.
Evidence points to parental attention as a key driver. Mail-order refills softened the decline.
tinyurl.com/2mv5a85d
A nationwide study of maternity ward closures in Norway finds no evidence of worse infant or maternal health and no long-term harm.
Centralization changed where people deliver, not how well they do.
tinyurl.com/yaja53p4
Can paying people to vaccinate backfire?
A new study finds that 1 in 7 vaccine-hesitant adults who would have accepted a COVID-19 shot declined when offered money. Incentives reduced trust in vaccine safety & weakened prosocial motivation to vaccinate. tinyurl.com/4r885vkx
When outpatient care becomes affordable, patients don’t just visit the clinic more—they uncover hidden health needs.
A new study finds that expanded chronic disease coverage in China increased both outpatient and inpatient use, revealing the cost of delayed care.
tinyurl.com/4rnx2tyf
New study finds that U.S. regions hardest hit by Japan’s manufacturing surge in the 1970s–80s saw higher cardiovascular & drug-related deaths among Black workers, but not whites.
Trade shocks can deepen health inequality.
tinyurl.com/ms3zm6su
Cleaner air, healthier beginnings 🌎👶
A new study finds that the EPA’s air-quality reforms did more than cut pollution—they improved lives from birth.
💡 Low birth weight ↓ 5.5%
💡 Very preterm births ↓ 13%
💡 Biggest gains for Black, low-educated & single mothers
tinyurl.com/2pachbzr
Enhanced social care can reshape healthcare use.
A new study finds that after joining Australia’s NDIS, people with disability made fewer subsidized mental & allied health visits—suggesting social care may replace, not raise, demand for clinical care. tinyurl.com/ywesp92z
When maternity wards are crowded, mothers receive fewer medical interventions—and newborns fare better. Evidence from Norway suggests that “less can be more” in healthcare.
Read the study in Health Economics: tinyurl.com/mpd5w3yj
🤖 Can robots make us healthier?
A new study finds that regions with higher robot adoption show ⬇️ in chronic diseases.
As robots replace physically demanding jobs, they may reduce worker stress & improve overall wellbeing. tinyurl.com/yj2mf926
When a spouse dies, the surviving partner’s need for institutional long-term care spikes—by 1.5 percentage point within 3 months, then fades by 10.
Early post-bereavement support is key to sustaining “aging-in-place.”
Read our new paper: tinyurl.com/zpubkxhu
Do paid-sick-leave laws change how workers care for others?
A new study finds that while state mandates don’t affect overall caregiving, they boost adult care—especially for parents and older adults—among workers newly covered by paid sick leave.
tinyurl.com/5n8hjfa9
📢 New in Health Economics: The first large-scale longitudinal study (25,000 adults, 14 years) shows how #hope shapes health, education, work, resilience & social outcomes.
tinyurl.com/4e43zeyb @brookings.edu @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social
To drink or not to drink? 🥂
New in Health Economics: Cognitive skills link to frequent but lighter drinking, noncognitive skills lower risky use, while social skills raise both consumption and binge risk.
tinyurl.com/3dftmvs4
📉 The ACA reduced uninsured rates—but not equally.
In the U.S. South, counties in states with less oppressive racial histories gained far more than neighbors across the border with deeper Jim Crow legacies.
History still shapes who benefits from reform: tinyurl.com/537z5ysx
📈 Once niche, health economics is now central to the field.
A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research.
Health is shaping the future of economics.
