How Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Drugs Affects Consumers’ Welfare
利用1997年美国FDA允许电视广告后的数据，通过结构计量模型比较政策前后消费者福利，发现直接面向消费者的广告似乎提升了消费者福利。
<h3>ABSTRACT</h3> In August 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed brand-specific advertising on television. A simultaneous rise in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) spending and prescription drug sales has resulted in a heated debate among pharmaceutical firms and medical practitioners, as well as in the U.S. Congress and the popular press. One side claims that DTCA creates demand and higher prices for the advertised brands; the other claims that DTCA increases consumer knowledge. The current study sheds light on the debate with a comparison of consumer welfare before and after the 1997 policy change, using a structural econometric model. The results suggest that DTCA seems to be increasing consumer welfare.