A Cautionary Tale in Comparative Effectiveness Research: Perils and Pitfalls of Observational Data Analysis Mar 05, 2018 By Adam LeiveArmando FrancoDana GoldmanDaniel McFadden A Cautionary Tale in Comparative Effectiveness Research: Perils and Pitfalls of Observational Data Analysis Health care costs represent a nearly 18% of U.S. gross domestic product and 20% of government spending. While there is detailed information on where these health care dollars are spent, there is much less evidence on how this spending affects health. The research in Measuring and Modeling Health Care Costs seeks to connect our knowledge of expenditures with what we are able to measure of results, probing questions of methodology, changes in the pharmaceutical industry, and the shifting landscape of physician practice. NBER Book Series Studies in Income and Wealth. University of Chicago Press. NBER Book Series Studies in Income and Wealth. University of Chicago Press. Areas of focus Economics Health Policy Armando Franco Dana Goldman Daniel McFadden