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The Effect of Occupational Licensing on Consumer Welfare: Early Midwifery Laws and Maternal Mortality

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  • D. Mark Anderson
  • Ryan Brown
  • Kerwin Kofi Charles
  • Daniel I. Rees

Abstract

Occupational licensing is intended to protect consumers. Whether it does so is an important, but unanswered, question. Exploiting variation across states and municipalities in the timing and details of midwifery laws introduced during the period 1900-1940, and using a rich data set that we assembled from primary sources, we find that requiring midwives to be licensed reduced maternal mortality by 6 to 7 percent. In addition, we find that requiring midwives to be licensed may have had led to modest reductions in nonwhite infant mortality and mortality among children under the age of 2 from diarrhea. These estimates provide the first econometric evidence of which we are aware on the relationship between licensure and consumer safety, and are directly relevant to ongoing policy debates both in the United States and in the developing world surrounding the merits of licensing midwives.

Suggested Citation

  • D. Mark Anderson & Ryan Brown & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2016. "The Effect of Occupational Licensing on Consumer Welfare: Early Midwifery Laws and Maternal Mortality," NBER Working Papers 22456, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22456
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    Cited by:

    1. Lazuka, Volha, 2018. "The long-term health benefits of receiving treatment from qualified midwives at birth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 415-433.
    2. Katherine Eriksson & Gregory T. Niemesh & Melissa Thomasson, 2018. "Revising Infant Mortality Rates for the Early Twentieth Century United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2001-2024, December.
    3. Markowitz, Sara & Adams, E. Kathleen & Lewitt, Mary Jane & Dunlop, Anne L., 2017. "Competitive effects of scope of practice restrictions: Public health or public harm?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 201-218.
    4. Lergetporer, Philipp & Ruhose, Jens & Simon, Lisa, 2018. "Entry Barriers and the Labor Market Outcomes of Incumbent Workers: Evidence from a Deregulation Reform in the German Crafts Sector," IZA Discussion Papers 11857, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Sonia Bhalotra & Damian Clarke & Joseph Flavian Gomes & Atheendar Venkataramani, 2023. "Maternal Mortality and Women’s Political Power," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(5), pages 2172-2208.
    6. Dick M. Carpenter & Lisa Knepper & Kyle Sweetland & Jennifer McDonald, 2018. "The Continuing Burden of Occupational Licensing in the United States," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 380-405, October.
    7. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Clarke, Damian & Gomes, Joseph & Venkataramani, Atheendar, 2018. "Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation," IZA Discussion Papers 11590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Andreas Kotsadam & Jo Thori Lind & Jørgen Modalsli, 2017. "Call the Midwife - Health Personnel and Mortality in Norway 1887-1921," CESifo Working Paper Series 6831, CESifo.
    9. Andrew Weaver, 2021. "Hiring Frictions in a Regulated Occupation: Evidence from US Laboratories," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 899-927, September.
    10. Summer, Anna & Guendelman, Sylvia & Kestler, Edgar & Walker, Dilys, 2017. "Professional midwifery in Guatemala: A qualitative exploration of perceptions, attitudes and expectations among stakeholders," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 99-107.
    11. John R. Bowblis & Austin C. Smith, 2021. "Occupational Licensing of Social Services and Nursing Home Quality: A Regression Discontinuity Approach," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(1), pages 199-223, January.
    12. Morris M. Kleiner & Evan J. Soltas, 2019. "A Welfare Analysis of Occupational Licensing in U.S. States," NBER Working Papers 26383, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Morris M. Kleiner & Evan J. Soltas, 2019. "A Welfare Analysis of Occupational Licensing in U.S. States," Staff Report 590, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    14. Lisa Simon, 2019. "Microeconometric Analyses on Determinants of Individual Labour Market Outcomes," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 83.
    15. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 11773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Peter Blair & Bobby Chung, 2017. "Job Market Signaling through Occupational Licensing," Working Papers 2017-50, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    17. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25027, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Morris M. Kleiner, 2017. "The influence of occupational licensing and regulation," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 392-392, October.
    19. Brian Meehan & E. Frank Stephenson, 2020. "Reducing a Barrier to Entry: The 120/150 CPA Licensing Rule," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 382-402, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies

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