Behavioural economic analysis of professionals’ incentives in health professions and in business services professions

Client: DG GROW

Duration: 2018 – 2020

Consortium: Open Evidence (partner), EY

Methodology: Economic Analysis, Behavioural Study

Tools: Literature Review, Interviews, Behavioural Experiments

Fieldwork: Spain, The Netherlands

Geographical scope: EU27

The project aims, given the challenges that healthcare systems are facing, to find effective ways of improving both efficiency and quality of healthcare. While there is a fair amount of evidence showing that healthcare professionals are more pro-socially and intrinsically motivated than professionals in other domains, all health systems invest significant resources in professional regulation and quality assurance, thereby declining to leave quality up to the caring instincts of providers. Yet, providing empirical evidence on the causal effects of professional regulation on quality of care has proven so far difficult. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is ‘to contribute to the theoretical understanding and to the evidence base on factors determining or influencing the quality (and potential public interest orientation) of professional services in the EU’ and to do so adopting a behavioural approach.

Final report

Behavioural economic analysis of professionals’ incentives in health professions