Market structure and gender disparity in health care: : preferences, competition, and quality of care

• Autores: Ryan C. McDevitt, James W. Roberts
• Localización: The Rand Journal of Economics, ISSN-e 1756-2171, Vol. 45, Nº. 1, 2014, págs. 116-139
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We consider the relationship between market structure and health outcomes in a setting where patients have stark preferences: urology patients disproportionately match with a urologist of the same gender. In the United States, however, fewer than 6% of urologists are women despite women constituting 30% of patients. We explain a portion of this disparity with a model of imperfect competition in which urology groups strategically differentiate themselves by employing female urologists. These strategic effects may influence women's health, as markets without a female urologist have a 7.3% higher death rate for female bladder cancer, all else equal.