The Nankai University Aging and Health Young Scholars Forum covers a range of topics related to aging and health, including medical behavior, hospital management, health insurance operations, individual health, pension markets, the silver economy, and retirement real estate. The forum aims to provide a platform for young scholars in these fields to exchange ideas, promote research and collaboration. We welcome students and faculty from both within and outside Nankai University to participate actively!

Lecture Topic:

Decentralized Policymaking and Market Distortions: Evidence from China’s Drug Formulary Design

Speaker : Liu Chenyuan 

Assistant Professor, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University. Dr. Liu earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research fields include health economics, industrial organization theory, insurance economics, and applied microeconomics. Her work has been published in top journals such as the *American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and the Journal of Health Economics.

Date and Time : April 26, 2024 (Friday)14:00-16:00

Location : Classroom 116, School of Finance

Abstract:

In this paper, we examine how decentralized public policymaking may create market distortions, focusing on the drug formulary design within China’s public health insurance programs. Since 2000, the central government has established a list of drugs covered by public insurance and allowed 15% of these drugs to vary across provinces. Our findings indicate that provincial governments exploit this policy to benefit local firms: the inclusion of a drug in the provincial formulary is significantly influenced by the presence of local producers, while local demand shocks do not affect the decision. We also discuss the welfare implications of having a single national drug formulary instead.