Work

Productivity Dispersion in Medicine and Manufacturing

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: The conventional wisdom in health economics is that large differences in average productivity across US hospitals are the result of idiosyncratic features of the healthcare sector which dull the role of market forces. Strikingly, however, we find that productivity dispersion in heart attack treatment across hospitals is, if anything, smaller than in narrowly defined manufacturing industries such as ready-mixed concrete. While this fact admits multiple interpretations, it suggests that healthcare may have more in common with “traditional” sectors than is often assumed, and relatedly, that insights from research on productivity and allocation in other sectors may enrich analysis of healthcare.

Source: American Economic Review

DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20161024

Authors: Amitabh Chandra, Amy Finkelstein, Adam Sacarny, Chad Syverson

Institutions: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Healthcare Policy and Management

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging