Medical innovation, education, and labor market outcomes of cancer patients

Abstract

Innovations in cancer treatment have lowered mortality, but little is known about their economic benefits. We assess the effect of two decades of improvements in cancer treatment options on the labor market outcomes of breast and prostate cancer patients. In addition, we compare this effect across cancer patients with different levels of educational attainment. We estimate the effect of medical innovation on cancer patients' labor market outcomes employing tax return and cancer registry data from Canada and measuring medical innovation by using the number of approved drugs and a quality-adjusted patent index. While cancer patients are less likely to work after their diagnosis, we find that the innovations in cancer treatment during the 1990s and 2000s reduced the negative employment effects of cancer by 63-70 percent. These benefits of medical innovation are limited to cancer patients with postsecondary education, raising concerns about unequal access to improved treatment options.

The effect of accidents on labor market outcomes: Evidence from Chile

“…For instance, we observe that highly educated individuals are more likely to have accidents classified as “Accidental exposure to other/unspecified factors,” a catch‐all category for likely less severe accidents, whereas individuals with low levels of education are more likely to suffer “Exposure to inanimate mechanical forces,” likely work accidents (see the Supplementary Appendix). This suggestive evidence could provide context to findings such as in Heinesen and Kolodziejczyk (2013) and Jeon and Pohl (2019), who estimate an educational gradient in the employment effects of cancer diagnoses. However, we do not find evidence of a large differential effect of accidents on labor market outcomes across education groups.…”

A systematic literature review of definitions and classification systems for radiotherapy innovation: A first step towards building a value-based assessment tool for radiation oncology

“…Out of the 25 selected articles, 7 original definitions of innovation were retrieved [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] (Table 2).…”

Will Innovation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Improve Perceived Health?

“…Lag effect should be taken into consideration when testing the impact of pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation on perceived health. There should be a lag effect between pharmaceutical manufacturing innovation and perceived health, because there is also a time lag from the moment when a drug was approved to the moment when it really worked ( 42 , 43 ). Lichtenberg ( 44 ) found that premature mortality in Canada is associated with at least 10-year cumulative use of drugs.…”