Health Economics: Guatemala Paper of the Day

Isabella Gaitan and I wrote the paper. The title is "Availability of Consumer Prices from Hospitals for a Common Cesarean Procedure in Guatemala."

We investigate the availability of price information for a common surgical procedure, a C-section, in the context of Guatemala. We phoned 98 hospitals and found that, for the most part, hospitals are willing to give an approximate price. The range of prices is Q. 3,000 - Q. 13,000 in Guatemala City, and Q. 2,300 - Q. 9,000 in the departments of the country. It is more difficult however to get more detailed information of prices, such as the price of different components of the procedure. There is room for a consumer to increase her welfare by “shopping around.” The industry is an example of “monopolistic competition.”

You can see the paper here. It also reflects my adventures with LaTex, which is awesome! One of the great things I started to learn in Senegal.