Equilibrium Allocations under Alternative Waitlist Designs: Evidence from Deceased Donor Kidneys Kidneys.

ABSTRACT: Waitlists are often used to ration scarce resources, but the trade-offs in designing these mechanisms depend on agents' preferences. We study equilibrium allocations under alternative designs for the deceased donor kidney waitlist. We model the decision to accept an organ or wait for a preferable one as an optimal stopping problem and estimate preferences using administrative data from the New York City area. Our estimates show that while some kidney types are desirable for all patients, there is substantial match-specific heterogeneity in values. We then develop methods to evaluate alternative mechanisms, comparing their effects on patient welfare to an equivalent change in donor supply. Past reforms to the kidney waitlist primarily resulted in redistribution, with similar welfare and org

SUBMITTER: Agarwal N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8294653 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature