Author : Harikesh Sasikumar Nair
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 37 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (898 download)
Book Synopsis Asymmetric Social Interactions in Physician Prescription Behavior by : Harikesh Sasikumar Nair
Download or read book Asymmetric Social Interactions in Physician Prescription Behavior written by Harikesh Sasikumar Nair and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We quantify the impact of social interactions and peer effects in the context of prescription choices by physicians. Using detailed individual-level prescription data, along with self reported social network information, we document that physician prescription behavior is significantly influenced by the behavior of research-active specialists, or 0́−opinion leaders0́+ in the physician's reference group. We leverage a natural experiment in the category, whereby new guidelines released about the therapeutic nature of the focal drug generated conditions where physicians were more likely to be influenced by the behavior of specialist physicians in their network. We find important, statistically significant peer effects that are robust across model specifications. We use the estimates to measure the incremental value to firms of directing targeted sales-force activity to these opinion leaders, and present estimates of the social multiplier of detailing in this category.