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Geographic Variation in Mental Health Treatment Utilization: Evidence from Migration

Ding Hy

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy2026https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20230402article
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

The older population bears a heavy burden of mental illness. Despite the availability of effective treatments, including services (e.g., psychotherapy) and drugs (e.g., antidepressants, antipsychotics), this paper documents substantial geographic variation in treatment utilization rates among Medicare enrollees. Exploiting patient migration, I show that 45.8 percent of service utilization variation is attributable to place-specific factors, compared to 15.1 percent for drug utilization. Further analyses suggest the role of provider accessibility in explaining the different place effects between service and drug use. Regarding health outcomes, I find that higher treatment utilization is associated with lower risks of self-harm-related emergency department visits. (JEL H75, I12, I13, I18)

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20230402

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@article{ding2026,
  title        = {{Geographic Variation in Mental Health Treatment Utilization: Evidence from Migration}},
  author       = {Ding Hy},
  journal      = {American Economic Journal: Economic Policy},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20230402},
}

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Geographic Variation in Mental Health Treatment Utilization: Evidence from Migration

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.