Rationing by Waiting Lists

A model in which waiting list queues function as a rationing process is developed, yielding several empirical implications that differentiate it from the standard queuing by waiting time model, as well as from numerous ad hoc explanations for the presence and behavior of queues. Since membership in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American economic review 1984-06, Vol.74 (3), p.404-417
Main Authors: Lindsay, Cotton M., Feigenbaum, Bernard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Appointments and Schedules
Breast cancer
Coefficients
Diabetic nephropathies
Economic models
Economic theory
Elasticity of demand
Health administration
Health Resources - supply & distribution
Health services
Health Services Needs and Demand
Health Services Research
Heart diseases
Hospitals
Joint diseases
Kidney diseases
Parasitic diseases
Queuing theory
Rationing
Regression Analysis
State Medicine
Statistical analysis
Supply
United Kingdom
Waiting Lists
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Summary:A model in which waiting list queues function as a rationing process is developed, yielding several empirical implications that differentiate it from the standard queuing by waiting time model, as well as from numerous ad hoc explanations for the presence and behavior of queues. Since membership in such a queue itself imposes no cost, waiting lists may ration only through the influence of delay on the value of the service delivered. The model is tested on data from the waiting list for admission to National Health Service hospitals in the UK in 1974. The theory implies that the joining rate will be negatively related to the expected delay in delivery and to the rate at which demand diminishes over time. Supply is hypothesized to respond positively to expected delay. Both of these implications are borne out by statistical estimates of 2 structural equations. Delay rates for the queues are examined and found to be positive; hypotheses concerning their relative magnitudes are confirmed.
ISSN:0002-8282
1944-7981