Working Paper: NBER ID: w29857
Authors: Michael Haylock; Patrick Kampktter; Mario Macis; Jürgen Sauter; Susanne Seitz; Robert Slonim; Daniel Wiesen; Alexander H. Schmidt
Abstract: The unavailability of potential stem cell donors poses a critical challenge for donor registries worldwide. This study investigates the impact of initiatives of a stem cell donor registry to enhance donors' availability for confirmatory typing. Initiatives ask donors to provide a sample for genetic analysis and/or information on their temporal unavailability. We analyzed 91,479 confirmatory typing requests from DKMS Germany, a large stem cell donor registry, exploiting a quasi-random initiative assignment based on observable characteristics. We find that, first, invitation to the initiatives increases donors' availability. Intention-to-treat estimates yield effects ranging from 2.5 to 3.2 percentage points, and local average treatment effects estimates range from 3.8 to 8.2 percentage points (baseline: 77.1%). Second, the difference in availability between participants and non-participants is over 10 percentage points. The initiatives yield a direct positive effect on donor availability and a selection effect through which participation signals a higher commitment.
Keywords: stem cell donation; donor availability; confirmatory typing; donor registry; medical donations
JEL Codes: I12; I18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| difference in availability between participants and nonparticipants (I24) | donor availability (F35) |
| participants in all initiatives (O35) | likelihood to follow through with CT (D91) |
| initiatives (O35) | attrition rates (J63) |
| initiatives (O35) | increase in availability among participants (D16) |
| participation in retyping initiatives (O33) | CT availability (E41) |
| participation in status update initiatives (Z13) | CT availability (E41) |
| first invitation to the initiatives (O36) | donors' availability (F35) |