Seminar: David Rosenkranz (Fordham University)

David A. Rosenkranz, Ph.D., is an applied microeconomist at Fordham University studying the determinants of health care access, capacity investment, and utilization, including the effects of public policy and competition. He specializes in health economics and industrial organization. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, the Wharton School, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2023. Previously, he completed his Ph.D. in economics at Columbia University in 2022 and received his B.A. from Vassar College in 2014.

Title: "Entry Barriers in Provider Markets: Evidence from Dialysis Certificate-of-need Programs"

Abstract: How do entry barriers in provider markets affect market structure and welfare? In the US, certificate-of-need (CON) programs statutorily prohibit capacity investment when a health planner determines that a community’s “needs” are already being met. I examine CON programs’ effects in the dialysis industry, where patients are sensitive to treatment access and quality. I find that they reduce entry and protect incumbents from potential competition while enabling them to expand. I use variation from two natural experiments and a structural model of patient preferences to find that marginal entrants improve access and the patient-treatment match, lower congestion, and raise monthly countywide patient welfare by an amount equal to reducing travel by 9,254 miles.