Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14061
Authors: Elisabeth Artmann; Hessel Oosterbeek; Bas van der Klaauw
Abstract: To assess the importance of limited access to medical expertise, we exploit admission lotteries to medical school in the Netherlands to estimate the causal effects of having a child who is a doctor on parents' health outcomes. We use data on health care use and mortality of parents of 22,000 lottery participants. Results reject that health outcomes of doctors' parents differ from those of non-doctors' parents. This suggests that easy, informal access to medical expertise is not an important driver of differences in health care use and mortality. This is consistent with institutions that provide equal health care for all.
Keywords: mortality; medical information; health care use; health inequality; intergenerational transmission; higher education
JEL Codes: D83; H51; I11; I12; I14; I26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| having a child who is a doctor (J13) | parental health outcomes (I12) |
| having a child who is a doctor (J13) | parents live longer (D15) |
| having a child who is a doctor (J13) | lower healthcare costs for parents (J13) |
| having a child who is a doctor (J13) | less likely to visit a GP or be hospitalized (I19) |
| having a child who is a doctor (J13) | significant effect on health care use or mortality of parents (I12) |