The effect of reference price regulation on pharmaceutical prices in Finland

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Volume Title

School of Business | Master's thesis

Date

2018

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Economics

Language

en

Pages

58 + 27

Series

Abstract

This thesis considers the impact of the Finnish reference pricing system (RPS) on pharmaceutical wholesale prices. The policy, introduced in 2009, sets a maximum amount for the public reimbursement of pharmaceuticals assigned to the system. The reform was designed to improve the generic substitution practice that began in 2003. Using rich panel data for the years of 2006–2012, I apply the difference-in-differences method, exploiting the fact that some products never entered reference pricing (RP). I find statistically significant evidence that prices fell by 5.9% in 2009 and 8.7% in 2010, after which the effect disappeared. However, concern with parallel price trends between the treatment and control groups prevents causal interpretation of the results.

Description

Thesis advisor

Toivanen, Otto

Keywords

industrial organization, health economics, pharmaceuticals, reference pricing

Other note

Tutkielman tiivistelmätiedoissa näkyvä hyväksymisvuosi on 2019.
The year of approval showing in the abstract of the thesis is 2019.

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