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ID: 187832

Distance effects and home bias in patient choice on the Internet: Evidence from an online healthcare platform in China / Chen, Qiulin

Chen, Qiulin	Journal Article
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Summary/Abstract

Telemedicine and telehealth hold promise for reducing access barriers caused by travel distance. However, little is known about how the Internet affects patients' online provider choices and thus the spatial distribution of healthcare utilization. This study investigates the effect of distance on flows of online medical consultations using a unique dataset from one of the leading third-party online healthcare platforms in China: Haodf.com. We show that the geographic distance between doctors and patients is negatively associated with online service utilization, though this effect is almost 40% ~ 50% weaker for online medical services than it is for offline medical services. We also find a strong “home bias” in which patients and doctors tend to locate in the same prefecture and in the same province. Further analyses suggest that prior in-person visits before online consultations, the potential need for a follow-up physical visit after an online consultation, and information friction may contribute to the distance effect. These findings have policy implications for improving healthcare access in China and other nations.

Key Words

Gravity Model ; Distance ; Home Bias ; Patient Choice ; Online Medical Consultations

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ID: 192051

Does Terrorism Affect Foreign Greenfield Investments? / Carril-Caccia, Federico

Carril-Caccia, Federico	Journal Article
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This work assesses the impact of terrorism suffered by a country on the capacity to attract foreign greenfield investments. To this end, we estimate a theoretically consistent structural gravity equation which accounts for several well-known estimation biases such as ‘home bias’, endogeneity and multilateral resistance. This specification makes it possible to identify the effect of a country-specific time-varying characteristic such as terrorism on bilateral foreign direct investment. We exploit a dataset that covers domestic and foreign investment of 182 countries in the period 2006-2016 on both the extensive and intensive margins. Our study finds that foreign investors are reluctant to invest in countries affected by terrorism and also reduce the amount of their investments in such cases. Sensitivity to terrorism is higher for foreign than for domestic investors. Terrorist attacks have a more intense impact on foreign investors’ decision-making when they are international or when these violent acts hurt governments. However, our results also evidence that good governance appears to be an effective tool for counterbalancing these damages in the eyes of foreign investors.

Key Words

Terrorism ; Institutions ; FDI ; Gravity Equation ; Home Bias ; Foreign Greenfield Investments

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