Papers

Job Market Paper:

Quality and Location Choice of Immigrant Doctors

Doctor shortages are a widespread and growing concern in the healthcare systems of many developed countries, including in the United States. Allowing for immigration of working doctors is a commonly proposed policy to expand doctor supply. In the US, however, licensing requirements that impede immigrants with medical training from working as doctors are commonly justified on the grounds of ensuring their quality. I study the quality of domestically trained and immigrant doctors in the US, focusing on a setting with strong identification and measurement – Medicare patients and hospital emergency rooms. I find quality premiums associated with care provided by immigrant doctors, both within a given hospital and across the entire distribution of emergency room doctors. Notably, I do not find such quality premiums for US citizen medical students educated abroad. I also find immigrant doctors are significantly more likely to work in designated health professional shortage areas. Estimates from a structural matching model of the doctor labor market reveal that neither mobility preferences nor vertical sorting can fully explain this geographic pattern, suggesting immigrants have a greater preference towards working in these areas. These results show the important role of immigrant doctors in providing quality healthcare in the areas of greatest need in the US.

Works in progress:

Medical School Entry and the Doctor Labor Market

Congestion and Demand for College Majors