Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
Research Institute of Industrial Economics

No 1428: The Importance of the First Generic Substitution: Evidence from Sweden

Aljoscha Janssen () and David Granlund ()
Additional contact information
Aljoscha Janssen: Singapore Management University, Postal: and Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden
David Granlund: Umea University

Abstract: We analyze changes in the willingness to substitute from prescribed pharmaceuticals to more affordable generic equivalents in response to the first experience with a substitution. Using Swedish individual-level data of prescribed and dispensed pharmaceuticals, we employ a dynamic event study and an instrumental variable approach to show that an initial substitution reduces the probability of opposing subsequent substitutions by 39 percentage points. The impact of a first substitution is especially large among elderly patients. We recommend that policy-makers target patients with a history of opposed substitution and offer additional discounts to promote substitution as long-term savings outweigh one-time costs.

Keywords: Generic Substitution; Pharmaceuticals; Health Care Costs

JEL-codes: D12; I11; I12

Language: English

39 pages, April 11, 2022

Full text files 

wp1428.pdf PDF-file Full text

Download statistics

Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Elisabeth Gustafsson ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ().

This page generated on 2024-02-05 17:12:21.