African traditional healers and outcome-contingent contracts in health care

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Leonard, KL
• 署名单位: Columbia University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3878(02)00131-1
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 1-22
• 关键词: traditional medicine; traditional healers; asymmetric information; outcome-contingent contracts; African health care

摘要

Even with the expansion of modem medicine, African traditional healers remain popular. This paper advances an economic perspective of healers to contribute to an explanation of this phenomenon. An important element of their practice has previously been ignored: healers use and are able to enforce outcome-contingent contracts. This, in turn, allows them to credibly deliver high quality care. Data on patient choice of health facility from Cameroun shows that patients choose healers over modem facilities for reasons that can be directly traced to the advantages inherent in the use of outcome-contingent contracts. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.