Maurer Jürgen
Mannheim Research Institute for the Economics of Aging (MEA), University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Health Econ. 2007 Sep;16(9):967-79. doi: 10.1002/hec.1253.
This paper suggests bivariate semiparametric index models as a tool for modelling the interplay of socioeconomic and health characteristics in determining health-care utilisation. These models allow for a fully nonparametric relationship between socioeconomic status, health-care need and care utilisation. The only parametric restriction imposed is that multiple socioeconomic and health indicators can be aggregated into two distinct indices that measure the broader concepts of socioeconomic status and health-care need, respectively. We demonstrate the usefulness of this class of models based on an illustrative empirical example. The estimations highlight complex interactions of socioeconomic status and health-care need in determining care use, which may be difficult to grasp via standard parametric modelling approaches.
本文提出双变量半参数指数模型，作为一种在确定医疗保健利用情况时对社会经济特征与健康特征之间相互作用进行建模的工具。这些模型允许社会经济地位、医疗保健需求和医疗利用之间存在完全非参数的关系。唯一施加的参数限制是，多个社会经济和健康指标可以汇总为两个不同的指数，分别衡量社会经济地位和医疗保健需求的更广泛概念。我们通过一个说明性实证例子证明了这类模型的有用性。估计结果突出了社会经济地位和医疗保健需求在确定医疗利用方面的复杂相互作用，而这可能难以通过标准参数建模方法来把握。
