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Allocating Scarce Organs: How a Change in Supply Affects Transplant Waiting Lists and Transplant Recipients

Author

Listed:
  • Stacy Dickert-Conlin
  • Todd Elder
  • Keith Teltser

Abstract

Vast organ shortages motivated recent efforts to increase the supply of transplantable organs, but we know little about the demand side of the market. We test the implications of a model of organ demand using the universe of US transplant data from 1987 to 2013. Exploiting variation in supply induced by state-level motorcycle helmet laws, we demonstrate that each organ that becomes available from a deceased donor in a particular region induces five transplant candidates to join that region's transplant wait list, while crowding out living-donor transplants. Even with the corresponding demand increase, positive supply shocks increase post-transplant survival rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Stacy Dickert-Conlin & Todd Elder & Keith Teltser, 2019. "Allocating Scarce Organs: How a Change in Supply Affects Transplant Waiting Lists and Transplant Recipients," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(4), pages 210-239, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejapp:v:11:y:2019:i:4:p:210-39
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/app.20170476
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ben Brewer, 2020. "Click it or give it: Increased seat belt law enforcement and organ donation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(11), pages 1400-1421, November.
    2. Becker, Gary S. & Elias, Julio Jorge & Ye, Karen J., 2022. "The shortage of kidneys for transplant: Altruism, exchanges, opt in vs. opt out, and the market for kidneys," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 211-226.
    3. Gabrielle Pepin, 2022. "The effects of welfare time limits on access to financial resources: Evidence from the 2010s," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 88(4), pages 1343-1372, April.
    4. Kastoryano, Stephen, 2024. "Biological, Behavioural and Spurious Selection on the Kidney Transplant Waitlist," IZA Discussion Papers 16995, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Aderonke Osikominu & Gregor Pfeifer & Kristina Strohmaier & Gregor-Gabriel Pfeifer, 2021. "The Effects of Free Secondary School Track Choice: A Disaggregated Synthetic Control Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 8879, CESifo.
    6. Stith, Sarah S. & Li, Xiaoxue, 2021. "Does increasing access-to-care delay accessing of care? Evidence from kidney transplantation," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    7. Ketevani Kapanadze, 2021. "Checkmate! Losing with Borders, Winning with Centers. The Case of European Integration," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp716, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    8. Ramanathan, Nikhil, 2018. "The Case for a Market for Livers," Studies in Applied Economics 111, The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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    1. Allocating Scarce Organs: How a Change in Supply Affects Transplant Waiting Lists and Transplant Recipients (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 2019) in ReplicationWiki

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