American Economic Review Vol. 113 No. 3 2023
When a Doctor Falls from the Sky: The Impact of Easing Doctor Supply Constraints on Mortality
Abstract
This paper describes the results of a policy experiment conducted in coordination with the Nigerian government. In this experiment, some communities were randomly selected to receive a new doctor. These doctors were posted to the public health center serving the community to work for a year. Prior to their arrival, health care was provided by mid-level health care providers (MLP). To separate the effect of (ostensibly higher) quality from that of quantity, another group of communities was provided with an additional mid-level health care worker. A third group of communities received no additional workers. No other inputs were provided. I find a measurable decrease in mortality in communities assigned a doctor but not in communities assigned an additional MLP, suggesting that quality in the health care sector is a significant constraint.
- DOI
- 10.1257/aer.20210701
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 585-627
- Language
- en
- Sources
- bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref