The Costs of False Positives in Screening Tests

The goal of this project is to be the first to precisely quantify the previously overlooked economic costs of false positives, using rich Danish administrative data and survey data. Our proposal focuses on how false positive screening test results impact (i) people’s utilization of, and interaction with the healthcare system; (ii) people’s work, leave, earnings, educational, and financial decisions, and their impacts on state revenue through the tax-and-transfer system; and (iii) the overall impact on psychological wellbeing. While significant in their own right, our results could also serve as a crucial input for facilitating a more comprehensive cost-benefit analysis by policymakers, which currently does not consider these potential costs.