Ask Your Doctor? Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals

• Michael Sinkinson ^[1] ; Amanda Starc ^[2]
  1. [1] Yale University

     Yale University

     Town of New Haven, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] Northwestern University

     Northwestern University

     Township of Evanston, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Review of economic studies, ISSN 0034-6527, Vol. 86, Nº 2, 2019, págs. 836-881
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • We measure the impact of direct-to-consumer television advertising (DTCA) by drug manufacturers. Our identification strategy exploits shocks to local advertising markets generated by the political advertising cycle and a regulatory intervention affecting a single product. We find evidence of significant business stealing effects among branded, advertised drugs. In addition, we show positive spillovers from drug advertisements to non-advertised competitors in the same class. We decompose the effect and show it is primarily due to new customers. Finally, we provide evidence that DTCA is cost-effective from a societal standpoint in our setting.