An episodic approach to the demand for medical care

The thesis is an analytic and empirical investigation of factors influencing the demand for medical care. The major thrusts of the empirical portion of the thesis, both of which are supported by the results, are that an episodic approach should prove more appropriate for explanation of demand differentials than utilization differentials, and that the conventional microeconomic model of demand must be re-interpreted with respect to a medical marketplace characterized by public medical insurance. The main empirical findings are the existence of a consistent, inverse, and approximately linear income-demand relationship (positive at lower education levels but levelling off after high school), and the insignificance of indirect price effects.