Someone privately asked me for references re my last message.
Supporting cites:
Antibiotics little mortality effect AER 84(3)369-95 Jun94
Randomized health insure experiment AER 77(3):251-77 Jun87
Regional variations in spend at end http://nberws.nber.org/papers/W6513
Regional variations in spend NEJM 328(9):621-8 4Mar93
We can see other effects JAMA 279(21):1703-8 3Jun98
"Why are some people healthy and others not?" Evans et al 94
Contrary cites I'm not impressed by (I could explain why):
AER 88(2)132-6.
http://nberws.nber.org/papers/W5750 (now QJE 113(4):991-4 Nov98)
JAMA 277(7):535-42 19Feb97 (see critique JAMA 227(24):1931-4 25Jun97)
AER = American Economic Review, NEJM = New England Journal of Med. JAMA = Journal of American Medical Association
Robin Hanson
hanson@econ.berkeley.edu http://hanson.berkeley.edu/ RWJF Health Policy Scholar FAX: 510-643-8614140 Warren Hall, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 510-643-1884 after 8/99: Assist. Prof. Economics, George Mason Univ.