Areas of Expertise

Industrial Organization, Health Economics, Law and Economics, Applied Econometrics

Academic Degrees

• PhD, Boston University, 2008
• MPhil, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003
• BA, Zhejiang University, 2001

Selected Publications

• Lin, H., and Wang, Y. (2025). The Value of Group Purchasing: Evidence from the U.S. Hospital Industry. Journal of Public Economic, 247, 105380.
• Lin, H., and McCarthy, I. (2023). Multimarket contact in Medicare Advantage. Journal of Industrial Economics, 71(1), 212-255.
• Lin, H., Munnich, B., Richards, M., Whaley, C., and Zhao, X. (2023). Private equity and healthcare firm behavior: Evidence from ambulatory surgery centers. Journal of Health Economics, 91, 102801.
• Lin, H., and Wildenbeest, M. R. (2020). Non-Parametric Estimation of Search Costs for Differentiated Products: Evidence from Medigap. Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, 38(4), 754-770.
• Lin, H., and Sacks, D. (2019). Intertemporal Substitution in Health Care Demand: Evidence from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. Journal of Public Economics, 175, 29-43.
• Freedman, S., Lin, H., and Prince, J. (2018). Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms. American Journal of Health Economics, 4(1), 51-79.
• Lin, H. (2015). Quality Choice and Market Structure: A Dynamic Analysis of Nursing Home Oligopolies. International Economic Review, 56(4), 1261-1290.

  Abstract

  Abstract

  This paper develops a dynamic model of entry and exit to analyze the quality choice and oligopoly market structure in the nursing home industry. The model contains four key features. First, it endogenizes firms' quality decisions. Second, it incorporates private information to capture idiosyncratic sources of profitability. Third, it allows for different cost structures and flexible competition patterns between low- and high-quality firms. Finally, the model employs a two-stage fixed effects approach to control for unobserved heterogeneity across markets. This model is estimated using a hybrid two-step estimator. I find significant heterogeneity in the competitive effects across market structures: firms of similar quality levels compete more strongly than dissimilar firms. Sunk entry costs are extremely large, and quality adjustment behavior is governed by significant fixed adjustment costs. Based on the model estimation, I have done three counterfactuals. The simulation predicts that the overall quality of care deteriorates given an increase in the elderly population. The proposal to eliminate low-quality nursing homes has caused a large supply-side shortage, and lowering entry costs has offered a perverse incentive to provide low quality of care as competition narrows the gap in pay rates between private-pay and Medicaid patients.

• Lin, H., and Wang, Y. (2015). Competition and Price Discrimination in the Parking Garage Industry. Journal of Industrial Economics, 63(3), 522-548.

  Abstract

  Abstract

  This paper provides an empirical examination of the relationship between competition and price discrimination in the parking garage industry. We find the degree of price schedule curvature decreases with competition, implying a greater proportional drop in low-end prices than in high-end prices. We explain this result by differences in searching behaviors between short-term and long-term customers.

• Freedman, S., Lin, H., and Simon, K. (2015). Public health insurance expansions and hospital technology adoption. Journal of Public Economics, 121, 117-131.
• Lin, H. (2014). Revisiting the Relationship between Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care in Nursing Homes: An Instrumental Variables Approach. Journal of Health Economics, 37, 13–24.

  Abstract

  Abstract

  This paper revisits the relationship between nurse staffing and quality of care in nursing homes using an instrumental variables approach. Most prior studies rely on cross-sectional evidence, which renders causal inference problematic and policy recommendations inappropriate. We exploit legislation changes regarding minimum staffing requirements in eight states between 2000 and 2001 as exogenous shocks to nurse staffing levels. We find that registered nurse staffing has a large and significant impact on quality of care, and that there is no evidence of a significant association between nurse aide staffing and quality of care. A comparison of the IV estimation to the OLS estimation of the first-difference model suggests that ignoring endogeneity would lead to an underestimation of how nurse staffing affects quality of care in nursing homes.

• Lin, H., and Prince, J. (2013). The Impact of the Partnership Long-Term Care Insurance Program on Private Coverage and Medicaid Expenditures. Journal of Health Economics, 32(6), 1205-1213.

  Abstract

  Abstract

  We examine the impact of U.S. states’ adoption of the partnership long-term care (LTC) insurance program on households’ purchases of private coverage. This program increases benefits of privately insuring via a higher asset threshold for Medicaid eligibility for LTC coverage, and targets middle-class households. We find the program generates few new purchases of LTC insurance, and those it generates are almost entirely by wealthy individuals, as predicted by Medicaid crowd-out. Further analysis suggests that awareness levels of the program, and possibly bequest intentions, also effectively predict response rates, but Medicaid crowd-out persists. We provide an estimate of expected Medicaid savings/costs.

Edited on August 29, 2025