Resource misallocation and market inefficiency: Investigating the healthcare sector when considering undesirable output

Resource misallocation and market inefficiency: Investigating the healthcare sector when considering undesirable output | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Resource misallocation and market inefficiency: Investigating the healthcare sector when considering undesirable output Zhiyang Shen, Tomas Baležentis This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4459456/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Numerous scholars have integrated the consideration of undesirable (bad) outputs into data envelopment analysis methods for evaluating environmental efficiency or productivity. However, there has been limited application of this approach to assess the operational performance of hospitals that involves bad outputs. This study specifically focuses on the mortality of hospital patients as a bad output, and the underlying assumption is that patients with severe medical conditions tend to choose higher-tier hospitals with better medical conditions for treatment. These critically ill patients may inherently exhibit elevated mortality rates. Moreover, when a surge of such patients inundates a hospital, constraints in equipment, staffing levels, and quality may impede the continuity of medical care. Essentially, insufficient resources to attend to patients can result in an upswing in the number of deaths. Therefore, utilizing provincial-level hospital data in China, this paper analyzes how resource misallocation affects patient mortality. Furthermore, it explores potential strategies for optimizing resources in order to enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare delivery. JEL: I12; I18; H51. Health care Hospitals Market inefficiency Resource misallocation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4459456","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":309614066,"identity":"61180da4-ff3a-4a6e-8c0c-78291c4d1ac4","order_by":0,"name":"Zhiyang Shen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Univ. 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