Gerald J Pruckner

Johannes Kepler University of Linz | JKU · Institute of Economics

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on social and economic life and in particular. for human health care. In this paper, we document the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying policies on individual health care utilization. We use detailed administrative health registry data for Upper Austria for the years 201...

Based on comprehensive administrative health record data from Austria, this study examines how children's mental health responds to a severe parental health shock. To account for the endogeneity of a serious parental illness, our sample is restricted to children who experience the health shock of a parent at some point in time and we exploit the ti...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background and Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent arrhythmia, associated with increased mortality and morbidity and causing relevant costs. Treatment options consist of catheter ablation (PVI) and rate or rhythm control drugs (non-PVI). Methods We analyze inpatient and outpa...

Background and aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent arrhythmia, associated with increased mortality and morbidity and causing relevant costs. Treatment options consist of catheter ablation (PVI) and rate or rhythm control drugs (non-PVI). Methods: We analyze inpatient and outpatient data from the Upper Austrian Health Insurance F...

Background: Increases in pediatric obesity have been associated with higher levels of health care utilization. There is currently a lack of knowledge on the therapeutic drivers of increased health care use. Objective: To examine the association between different measures of health care utilization and BMI among children. Methods: We linked cross-se...

There is agreement among health economists that on the whole medical innovation causes health care expenditures (HCE) to rise. This paper analyzes for which diagnoses HCE per patient have grown significantly faster than average HCE. We distinguish decedents (patients in their last 4 years of life) from survivors and use a unique dataset comprising...

We examine the personal health situation and how the complexities thereof affect the elderly Austrians’ willingness to accept electronic health records (EHR). Using data from the sixth wave of the SHARE survey in Austria, we find the complexity of individual health problems and the social integration of individuals influencing the acceptance of EHR...

We analyze the relationship between birth order, parental health investment and children's health using administrative data from Austria. We show that later-born children have better health endowments at birth. They are less likely born preterm or with a low birth weight, and less likely hospitalized for perinatal conditions. We also find significa...

Despite the growing incidence of cesarean deliveries (CDs), procedure costs and benefits continue to be controversially discussed. In this study, we identify the effects of CDs on subsequent fertility and maternal labor supply by exploiting the fact that obstetricians are less likely to undertake CDs on weekends and public holidays and have a great...

Pension systems and reforms thereof are often discussed in the context of financial viability. In industrialized countries, these debates grow in intensity with the aging of the population; however, an increase in the retirement age may create un-intended side effects with regard to retirees' health or healthcare costs. This study empirically analy...

There is widespread agreement that behavior crucially influences one’s health. However, little is known about what actually determines health-related behavior. We explore the impact of the place where many people spend most of their time, at work, and analyze whether an individual’s decision to participate in health screening is related to the obse...

Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent arrhythmia in western countries. It is associated with increased mortality and morbidity and responsible for hospitalization rates of 10-40% per patient per year. Studies from the UK and the USA have shown that AF is responsible for ∼1% of the total healthcare expenditures in these countries. Th...

Health care payers try to reduce costs by promoting the use of cheaper generic drugs. We show strong interrelations in drug prescriptions between the inpatient and outpatient sectors by using a large administrative dataset from Austria. Patients with prior hospital visits have a significantly lower probability of receiving a generic drug in the out...

Pension systems and their reforms are often discussed in the context of financial viability. These debates grow in intensity with the aging of the population in industrialized countries. However, an increase in retirement age may create unintended side effects for retirees' health or healthcare costs. This paper empirically analyzes the effect of (...

Early intervention is considered the optimal response to developmental disorders in children. We evaluate a nationwide developmental screening program for preschoolers in Austria and the resulting interventions. Identification of treatment effects is determined by a birthday cutoff-based discontinuity in the eligibility for a financial incentive to...

We analyzed the impact of social networks on general practitioners' (GPs) referral behavior based on administrative panel data from 2,684,273 referrals to specialists made between 1998 and 2007. For the definition of social networks, we used information on the doctors' place and time of study and their hospital work history. We found that GPs refer...

Using a matched insurant-general practitioner panel data set, we estimated the effect of a general health-screening program on individuals' health status and health care cost. To account for selection into treatment, we used regional variations in the intensity of exposure to supply-determined screening recommendations as an instrumental variable....

This paper analyzes the impact of external sources of information, conveyed by the frequency of risky events that vary across time, on the individual willingness to pay (WTP) for a reduction of mortality risk. We collected data from a contingent valuation (CV) exercise conducted in two waves (fall and winter) to examine whether individual WTP varie...

In this paper, we study the socio-economic determinants of birth weight, with a focus on the mother's family status. We use Austrian birth register data covering all births between 1984 and 2007 and find that a mother's marriage is associated with a higher birth weight of the newborn, in the range of 40 to 60 g. The significant impact is retained i...

Many publishers use an honor system for selling newspapers in the street. We conducted a field experiment to study honesty in this market, finding that a moral reminder increases the level of honesty in payments, whereas the same message has no effect on whether one is honest. Reminding customers of the legal norm has no effect. We argue that these...

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of low birth weight (LBW) and very low birth weight (VLBW) on health care utilization in childhood and early adolescence. Data/methods: Using Austrian health insurance administrative panel data linked to the Austrian birth register, we estimate the effects of LBW and VLBW in comparison t...

Eine älter werdende Gesellschaft und die damit verbundene Dynamik der Gesundheitsausgaben stehen im Mittelpunkt der aktuellen gesundheitspolitischen Debatte. Trotz der hohen Relevanz, die dieses Thema zweifelsohne aufweist, zeigt der Blick auf die Daten der Inanspruchnahme von Gesundheitsleistungen, dass die Ausgaben für Kinder und Jugendliche über...

Das Buch „Gesundheits- und Sozialpolitik im Diskurs“ diskutiert in mehreren Beiträgen aus einer sozial- und wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Perspektive aktuelle Entwicklungen der Gesundheits- und Sozialpolitik. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt auf einer Analyse der österreichischen und europäischen Systeme der Gesundheits- und Sozialpolitik. Im ersten Themenblo...

This paper analyzes the determinants of the perceived stress level of workers with a special focus on the effects of commuting, while controlling for personal and work-related characteristics. Using ordered logistic regression we find that several dimensions of the commuting situation, such as impedance, control and predictability of commuting, sig...

This paper explores the capability of the state to affect the individual's decision to work for free. For this purpose we combine individual-level data from the European and World Values Survey with macroeconomic and political variables for OECD member countries. Empirically we identify three channels for crowding out of voluntary labor. Firstly, a...

Based on the empirical firm growth literature and on heterogeneous (microeconomic) adjustment models, this paper empirically investigates the impact of European industry fluctuations and domestic business cycles on the growth performance of European firms. Since the implementation of the Single Market program the EU 27 member countries share a comm...

A publisher uses an honor system for selling a newspaper in the street. The customers are supposed to pay, but they can also pay less than the price or not pay at all. We conduct an experiment to study honesty in this market. The results show that appealing to honesty increases payments, whereas reminding the customers of the legal norm has no effe...

This paper explores individual motives for volunteering. The analysis is based on the interpretation of volunteering as a consumption good (consumption model) or as a mean to increase individual's own human capital (investment model). We present an econometric framework taking into account self selection into volunteering and simultaneity between t...

We analyse local compensation payments made to farmers for providing landscape amenities in Alpine tourist communities. These payments result from political bargaining at the municipal level. Panel data estimation shows that the probability of introducing compensation payments depends positively on the benefits of landscape amenities. Although no i...

This paper analyzes supply and demand side characteristics of (voluntary) Red Cross services in Austria. The demand side analysis is based on a contingent valuation study on people's willingness to pay for emergency treatment, transportation services and disaster relief activities. The supply side is identified by a high percentage of volunteers in...

Abstract This paper shows that expectations about future income changes may bias respon- dents’ answers in Contingent Valuation (CV) studies. A practicable ex post ap- proach to control for these biases is proposed: Based on the interviewees’ individual assessment of the personal future income situation expected income changes can be econometricall...

Sensitivity (proportionality) of willingness to pay to (small) risk changes is often used as a criterion to test for valid measures of economic preferences. In a contingent valuation (CV) study conducted in Austria in February 2005 1,005 respondents were asked their willingness to pay (WTP) for preventing an increase in risk by 1/42,500 and 3/42,50...

This paper examines the influence of implicit information on willingness to pay (WTP) values for prevention of the risk of dying in an avalanche. We present the results of a contingent valuation (CV) study carried out in Austria in two different periods (fall 2004 and winter 2005). The comparison of WTP results between the two waves allows identifi...

This paper deals with a cross section analysis of local compensation payments to farmers for their provision of landscape amenities in alpine tourist communities. These payments can be interpreted as the outcomes of Coasian negotiations. Based on Austrian data we empirically identify the underlying determinants of the negotiating process. The proba...

Corruption in the public sector erodes tax compliance and leads to higher tax evasion. Moreover, corrupt public officials abuse their public power to extort bribes from the private agents. In both types of interaction with the public sector, the private agents are bound to face uncertainty with respect to their disposable incomes. To analyse effect...

Criticism of contingent valuation (CV) stresses warm glow and free-riding as possible causes for biased willingness to pay figures. We present an empirical framework to study the existence of warm glow and free-riding in hypothetical WTP answers based on a CV survey for the measurement of health-related Red Cross services. Both in conventional doub...

This paper explores individual motives for volunteering: The analysis is based on the interpretation of volunteering as a consumption good (consumption model) or as a mean to increase individual’s own human capital (investment model). We present an econometric framework taking into account self selection into volunteering and simultaneity between t...

This paper analyzes supply and demand side characteristics of (volun-tary) Red Cross services in Austria. Empirical results are presented based on a CV study on people's willingness to pay for the maintenance of emer-gency treatment after injury, transportation services and disaster relief activities. A comparison of aggregated willingness to pay m...

Dieser Beitrag analysiert angebots- und nachfrageseitige Charakteristika von Rot-Kreuz(RK)-Leistungen am Beispiel von Oberösterreich. Im Rahmen der angebotsseitigen Analyse erfolgt die Typologisierung von freiwilligen RK-Mitarbeiter/innen hinsichtlich ihrer sozioökonomischen Merkmale. Zudem werden die Motivationen für ehrenamtliche Tätigkeit unters...

This paper presents efficient CO2 abatement levels for 135 countries and identifies reasons for the absence of worldwide greenhouse gas emission reductions. Based on individual marginal cost and benefit functions for emission abatement, the Pareto-optimal Samuelson solution is compared with the Nash equilibrium. It was found that the Pareto-optimal...

Environmental resources are limited and therefore policy-makers have to determine the best allocation of resources amongst competing alternative uses. The question arises of which criteria environmental policy decisions ought to be based. This paper suggests economics to help solve environmental problems. This economic approach requires the monetar...

Environmental resources are limited and therefore policy-makers have to determine the best allocation of resources amongst competing alternative uses. The question arises of which criteria environmental policy decisions ought to be based. This paper suggests economics to help solve environmental problems. This economic approach requires the monetar...

In December 1997 38 industrialized nations have negotiated the so-called Kyoto Protocol to limit emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride. This agreement — bound by the law of nations — requires worldwide greenhouse gas emissions to be cut b...

The paper presents contingent valuation (CV) estimates of benefits provided by a proposed 'Kalkalpen' National Park in Austria. Although descriptive results of welfare measures are presented, the focus of the paper is on methodological questions concerning the analysis of CV answers. Evidence is given regarding the difference between payment card (...

Valuation methods have been used for five main purposes in environmental decision-making. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of projects, CBA of new regulations, natural resource damage assessment, environmental costing, and environmental accounting. The relatively lower importance attached to economic efficiency in environmental decision-making in most E...

Valuation methods have been used for five main purposes in environmental decision-making. Cost–benefit analysis (CBA) of projects, CBA of new regulations, natural resource damage assessment, environmental costing, and environmental accounting. The relatively lower importance attached to economic efficiency in environmental decision-making in most E...

This paper covers nonmarket services provided by farmers for recreational purposes in several Central European regions. A regionally specified general equilibrium model is used to derive the efficiency conditions for a competitive equilibrium to guarantee a Pareto optimal outcome. Moreover, we present green agricultural compensation programmes in E...

Because of the public good character of global emissions it is difficult to implement reduction targets as formulated at Toronto or Rio. This paper presents a simple mechanism for inducing efficient contributions to the reductions of emissions as a non-cooperative equilibrium. The world is partitioned into groups of countries, and then each country...

This paper evaluates the economic benefits associated with agricultural landscape-cultivating services provided as an input on behalf of the tourism sector in Austria. Applying the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), 4600 tourists spending vacations in Austria in the summer of 1991 were asked about their willingness to pay for these services. The me...

In analysing structural budget balances, the paper sketches the discretionary budget policy in the Austrian central and general government sector. At the beginning, the institutional factors are introduced which are supposed to account for differences between the budgetary situation of the central and general government, i.e. the constitutional dis...

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit werden die empirischen Ergebnisse einer in Österreich durchgeführten Zahlungsbereitschaftsanalyse für den Nationalpark Kalkalpen vorgestellt. Den Schwerpunkt der Arbeit bilden methodische Fragen zur empirischen Analyse von Antworten im Rahmen der Kontingenten Bewertungsmethode (KBM). Insbesonders werden die Untersch...

Zusammenfassung Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Rolle der monetären Um-weltbewertung im politischen Zielfindungsprozess und in der Umsetzung umweltpolitischer Maßnahmen. Es wird argumentiert, dass die weitge-hende Vernachlässigung von (Grenz-) Nutzen der Umweltregulierung ei-ne effiziente Umweltqualität verhindert. Die Gründe für die fehlen...