The dominant theory in economics for centuries in the Western world has been the free market system, yet the ability of competitive markets to provide quality care has been a central point of recent debate. Extensive government regulation, though well-intentioned, adversely affects the overall health of Americans, inhibits medical innovation, and demands enormous tax-payer investment. The Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare delivers cutting edge research on the efficiencies of competitiveness in the healthcare sector to demonstrate that free market forces can and do work to provide innovative, equitable, and high-quality care.
Our Vision
To be the leading university-based research center in free-market healthcare, promoting choice and competition to ensure greater access to existing care and new innovations.
Our Mission
To conduct evidence-based research and analyses on market-based choice and competition in the healthcare sector to lead to better-informed policy recommendations.
Upcoming Event
2024 ECCHC Annual Conference: Supply-side Economics in Healthcare
May 3, 2024 | David Rubenstein Forum at The University of Chicago
Working Papers
COVID-19 Biopharmaceutical Innovation and Industry Appropriation
The rapid emergence of vaccines and therapeutics in response to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated the value of medical innovation. These advances not only led to enhanced patient welfare by reducing the disease’s mortality and morbidity but...
Policy Brief: The Impact of Price Setting at 9 Years on Small Molecule Innovation Under the Inflation Reduction Act
This policy brief provides a quantitative analysis of how the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) policy to set prices for select small molecule drugs 9 years after FDA approval impacts innovation and patient health. Price setting under the IRA undermines existing...
Difference-in-Differences in the Marketplace
Price theory says that the most important effects of policy and technological change are often found beyond their first point of contact. This appears opposed to econometric methods that rule out spillovers of one person’s treatment on another’s outcomes. This paper...
Learn more about Operation Warp Speed:
In the Press
COVID-19 Biopharmaceutical Innovation and Industry Appropriation
The rapid emergence of vaccines and therapeutics in response to the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated the value of medical...
Public Health Still Needs an Economics Transfusion | National Review | 03/21/24
By Tomas J. Philipson & Casey B. Mulligan March 21, 2024 Public health frequently trivializes prevention costs, and therefore misjudges...
COVID Lessons Learned: A Retrospective After Four Years | Committee to Unleash Prosperity | 03/15/24
By Scott W. Atlas, Steve H. Hanke, Philip G. Kerpen, and Casey B. Mulligan March 2024 Executive Summary This report reviews the major policy...
Congratulations to our 2023 Graduates
Including: Giuseppe Di Cera, Lorena Heller and Rolamjaya Hotmartua.
