IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/hitcei/2023-05.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

New Medical Schools, Access to Doctors and Health Outcomes : Evidence from Japan

Author

Listed:
  • HOSHI, Kisho

Abstract

We investigate the effects of the medical school and the associated university hospital constructions in the 1970s on access to doctors and mortality, using the prefecture-level panel data of Japan and an event study design that exploits an exogenous variation in the pre-war location of medical schools. We find the long-term effect of an increase in doctors, and the effect closes the gap in the access to doctors that existed between treated and control prefectures before the policy intervention. We also find a decline in mortality for acute and intractable diseases after the establishment of the university hospital. Our results suggest that opening medical schools in rural areas are a potential policy to mitigate geographical disparities in access to doctors. Our results also indicate that the university hospital and the new medical graduates played an important role in decreasing mortality rates.

Suggested Citation

  • HOSHI, Kisho, 2023. "New Medical Schools, Access to Doctors and Health Outcomes : Evidence from Japan," CEI Working Paper Series 2023-05, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
  • Handle: RePEc:hit:hitcei:2023-05
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/79845/wp2023-05.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fang, Pengqian & Dong, Siping & Xiao, Jingjing & Liu, Chaojie & Feng, Xianwei & Wang, Yiping, 2010. "Regional inequality in health and its determinants: Evidence from China," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 14-25, January.
    2. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    3. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    4. Jonathan Gruber & Nathaniel Hendren & Robert M. Townsend, 2014. "The Great Equalizer: Health Care Access and Infant Mortality in Thailand," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 91-107, January.
    5. Bolduc, Denis & Fortin, Bernard & Fournier, Marc-Andre, 1996. "The Effect of Incentive Policies on the Practice Location of Doctors: A Multinomial Probit Analysis," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(4), pages 703-732, October.
    6. Liu, Hong & Fang, Hai & Zhao, Zhong, 2013. "Urban–rural disparities of child health and nutritional status in China from 1989 to 2006," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 294-309.
    7. Steven Simoens & Jeremy Hurst, 2006. "The Supply of Physician Services in OECD Countries," OECD Health Working Papers 21, OECD Publishing.
    8. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    9. Viscusi, W Kip & Aldy, Joseph E, 2003. "The Value of a Statistical Life: A Critical Review of Market Estimates throughout the World," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 5-76, August.
    10. Andrea Park Chung & Martin Gaynor & Seth Richards-Shubik, 2017. "Subsidies and Structure: The Lasting Impact of the Hill-Burton Program on the Hospital Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(5), pages 926-943, December.
    11. Or, Zeynep & Wang, Jia & Jamison, Dean, 2005. "International differences in the impact of doctors on health: a multilevel analysis of OECD countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 531-560, May.
    12. Santosh Kumar & Emily A. Dansereau & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2014. "Does distance matter for institutional delivery in rural India?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(33), pages 4091-4103, November.
    13. Sun, Liyang & Abraham, Sarah, 2021. "Estimating dynamic treatment effects in event studies with heterogeneous treatment effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 175-199.
    14. Gusmano, Michael K. & Weisz, Daniel & Rodwin, Victor G. & Lang, Jonas & Qian, Meng & Bocquier, Aurelie & Moysan, Veronique & Verger, Pierre, 2014. "Disparities in access to health care in three French regions," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 31-40.
    15. Goodman, D.C. & Fisher, E. & Slukel, T.A. & Chang, C.-H., 1997. "The distance to community medical care and the likelihood of hospitalization: Is closer always better?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(7), pages 1144-1150.
    16. Kondo, Ayako & Shigeoka, Hitoshi, 2013. "Effects of universal health insurance on health care utilization, and supply-side responses: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-23.
    17. John Robst, 2001. "A note on the relationship between medical care resources and mortality," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(11), pages 737-739.
    18. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    19. John Gardner, 2022. "Two-stage differences in differences," Papers 2207.05943, arXiv.org.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrea Mattozzi & Samuel Nocito & Francesco Sobbrio, 2022. "Fact-Checking Politicians," CESifo Working Paper Series 10122, CESifo.
    2. Xue, Yi & Zhang, Xinzhi, 2024. "Digital transformation and corporate capital structure: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Huang, Wei & Liu, Hong, 2023. "Early childhood exposure to health insurance and adolescent outcomes: Evidence from rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Blemings, Benjamin & Zhang, Peilu & Neill, Clinton L., 2023. "Where is the value? The impacts of sow gestation crate laws on pork supply and consumer value perceptions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Hufschmidt, Patrick, 2023. "Green parties and building permissions: Evidence from Bavarian municipalities," Ruhr Economic Papers 1052, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Peter Blair & Elijah Neilson, 2023. "Divorce and Property Division Laws Shape Human Capital Investment," Working Papers 2023-020, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    7. Garcia, Alberto & Heilmayr, Robert, 2024. "Impact evaluation with nonrepeatable outcomes: The case of forest conservation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    8. Callaway, Brantly & Li, Tong, 2023. "Policy evaluation during a pandemic," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 236(1).
    9. Yadav, Anil & McHale, John & Harold, Jason & O'Neill, Stephen, 2024. "Estimating effects of staggered intervention with count and binary outcomes: a simulation study," Research Technical Papers 4/RT/24, Central Bank of Ireland.
    10. Guilherme Araújo Lima & Igor Viveiros Melo Souza & Mauro Sayar Ferreira, 2023. "Evaluating difference-in-differences models under different treatment assignment mechanism and in the presence of spillover effects," Textos para Discussão Cedeplar-UFMG 662, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.
    11. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    12. Mac Clay, Pablo & Börner, Jan & Sellare, Jorge, 2023. "Institutional and macroeconomic stability mediate the effect of auctions on renewable energy capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    14. Stefan Bauernschuster & Michael Grimm & Cathy M. Hajo, 2023. "The Impact of Margaret Sanger’s Birth Control Clinics on Early 20th Century U.S. Fertility and Mortality," CESifo Working Paper Series 10421, CESifo.
    15. Rik Chakraborti & Gavin Roberts, 2023. "How price-gouging regulation undermined COVID-19 mitigation: county-level evidence of unintended consequences," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 196(1), pages 51-83, July.
    16. Luo, Lianfa & Cheng, Zhiming & Ye, Qingqing & Cheng, Yanjun & Smyth, Russell & Yang, Zhiqing & Zhang, Le, 2024. "Nonmonetary awards and innovation: Evidence from winning China's Top Brand Contest," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    17. Görg, Holger & Lehr, Jakob, 2024. "Short and medium-term effects of foreign acquisitions on manufacturing firms: Evidence from Germany," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 302104, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    18. Hashida, Yukiko & Dundas, Steven J., 2023. "The effects of a voluntary property buyout and acquisition program on coastal housing markets: Evidence from New York," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Aggarwal, Khushboo & Barua, Rashmi & Vidal-Fernandez, Marian, 2024. "Still Waters Run Deep: Groundwater Contamination and Education Outcomes in India," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    20. Maclean, J. Catherine & Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2020. "Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Welfare Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 13132, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hit:hitcei:2023-05. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Reiko Suzuki The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Reiko Suzuki to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cehitjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.