Consumer Information and Pharmaceutical Prices: Theory and Evidence*
从理论和实证两方面分析消费者信息增加对品牌药和仿制药价格的影响，利用瑞典2002年药品替代改革作为自然实验，发现改革降低了两种药品的价格。
In this paper, the impact of increased consumer information on brand name and generic pharmaceutical prices is analyzed both theoretically and empirically. The theoretical results show that an increase in information is likely to reduce the price of brand name pharmaceuticals, while the results regarding generics are less clear. In the empirical part of the paper, the introduction of the substitution reform in the Swedish pharmaceuticals market in October 2002 is used as a natural experiment regarding the effects of increased consumer information on pharmaceutical prices. The results clearly show that the reform has lowered the price of both brand name- and generic pharmaceuticals