Organizational issues in service delivery has been relatively neglected in health economics, especially in developing countries. Since health care delivery systems in these countries are rapidly changing in size as well as in composition, better understanding of the determinants of productivity, quality, and cost in health care can have important policy implications for the future, bringing significant potential returns in both efficiency and effectiveness.

This session will introduce some of the key questions in economics of organization of health care and their relevance for developing countries. A brief introductory presentation (Berman) will identify a key set of issues and research priorities. Three empirical presentations will cover different areas of work on the key areas of determinants of industrial organization in the retail pharmaceutical sector (Montagu); organizational behavior affecting hospital performance (La Forgia); and changes over time in health care productivity (Rannan-Eliya).