òòò½Íø Journal:
Applied Economics
ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)
Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD
òòò½Íø Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 17,
no. 2, April 2025
(pp. 225–56)
Abstract
The health care system uses patient family medical history in many settings, and this practice is widely believed to improve the efficiency of health care allocation. This paper provides a counterpoint by documenting that reliance on hereditary information can amplify the misallocation of low-value care. We study Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and show that reliance on family medical history generates a "snowball effect"—the propagation of an original marginal diagnosis to a patient's relatives. This snowball effect raises the private and social costs of low-value care.Citation
Persson, Petra, Xinyao Qiu, and Maya Rossin-Slater. 2025. "Family Spillover Effects of Marginal Diagnoses: The Case of ADHD." òòò½Íø Journal: Applied Economics 17 (2): 225–56. DOI: 10.1257/app.20230303Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H51 National Government Expenditures and Health
- I12 Health Behavior
- I13 Health Insurance, Public and Private
- I18 Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
- J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
- J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth