Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
The person tradeoff (PTO) is commonly used in health economic applications. However, to date it has no theoretical basis. The purpose of this paper is to provide this basis from a set of assumptions that together justify the most common applications of the PTO method. Our analysis identifies the central assumptions in PTO measurements. We test these assumptions in an experiment, but find only limited support for the validity of the PTO.