Zhao Xin
School of International Trade and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, China.
J Health Econ. 2016 Sep;49:136-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2016.05.004. Epub 2016 Jul 4.
Economic theory suggests that competition and information can both be important for product quality, and yet evidence on how they may interact to affect quality is sparse. This paper estimates the impact of competition between nursing homes on their quality, and how this impact varies when consumers have better access to information. The effect of competition is identified using exogenous variation in the geographical proximity of nursing homes to their potential consumers. The change in information transparency is captured by the launch of the Five-Star Quality Rating System in 2009, which improved access to the quality information of nursing homes. We find that while the effect of competition on nursing home quality is generally rather limited, this effect becomes significantly stronger with increased information transparency. The results suggest that regulations on public quality reporting and on market structure are policy complements, and should be considered jointly to best improve quality.
经济理论表明，竞争和信息对产品质量都可能很重要，但关于它们如何相互作用以影响质量的证据却很少。本文估计了养老院之间的竞争对其质量的影响，以及当消费者更容易获取信息时这种影响如何变化。竞争的影响是通过养老院与其潜在消费者地理距离的外生变化来确定的。信息透明度的变化通过2009年推出的五星级质量评级系统来体现，该系统改善了对养老院质量信息的获取。我们发现，虽然竞争对养老院质量的影响通常相当有限，但随着信息透明度的提高，这种影响会显著增强。结果表明，关于公共质量报告和市场结构的监管是政策互补品，应共同考虑以最好地提高质量。
