Informal payments in Romanian health care system. A sample selection correction

This paper draws on economic theory, sociology and political science approaches to explain informal payments in the Romanian health care system. It estimates the likelihood of paying a bribe (informal payment) using a reduced health care demand equation in a probit model with sample selection corre...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bianca Buligescu, Henry Espinoza Peňa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Expert Projects 2020-11-01
Series:Sociologie Românească
Subjects:
Online Access:http://revistasociologieromaneasca.ro/sr/article/view/1688
Description
Summary:This paper draws on economic theory, sociology and political science approaches to explain informal payments in the Romanian health care system. It estimates the likelihood of paying a bribe (informal payment) using a reduced health care demand equation in a probit model with sample selection correction. Social capital, as having a relationship with doctors, and the perception of the health care system, as corrupt, are found to influence the probability of making an informal payment. The likelihood of making an informal payment in the Romanian health care system is modelled using a maximum-likelihood probit estimation with sample selection correction. In the selection equation, reduced health care demand, self-perceived health status and being afraid of diseases are used as exclusion restrictions for identifying the parameters of the econometric model.
ISSN:1220-5389
2668-1455