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When women take over: Physician gender and health care provision

Author

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  • Gerald J. Pruckner
  • Flora Stiftinger
  • Katrin Zocher

    (Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz)

Abstract

The share of female physicians has risen in OECD countries in recent decades, but we know little about the effects of physician gender. We exploit quasi-random assignment of primary care providers (PCPs) to patients and estimate the causal effect of female PCPs on health care provision. Using Austrian register data and a difference-in-differences strategy, we find that female PCPs generate 14% less revenue than male PCPs. This gap is driven by a 6% reduction in the number of patients and a 6.5% decrease in services per patient. Our findings are not consistent with discrimination; instead, female PCPs work fewer hours.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerald J. Pruckner & Flora Stiftinger & Katrin Zocher, 2024. "When women take over: Physician gender and health care provision," Economics working papers 2024-04, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2024-04
    Note: English
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    physician gender; primary care; gender medicine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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