Working Paper: NBER ID: w31955
Authors: Anupam Jena; David Slusky; Lilly Springer
Abstract: Are birth outcomes of physician mothers affected by their long work hours and physically demanding job? Using Texas birth data from 2007-2014, we compared birth outcomes between physicians and another highly educated group, lawyers, and between surgeons and non-surgeon physicians. Further, using a difference-in-differences framework, we examine whether a 2011 duty hour reform impacted the physician birth outcomes. We find that physicians have an increased incidence of low birthweight and small for gestational age infants, with the results driven by surgeons. We find evidence that duty hour reforms were associated with improved birth outcomes for younger physicians.
Keywords: birth outcomes; physician mothers; duty hour reform
JEL Codes: I12; J13; J44; K32
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Physicians (I11) | Birth outcomes (J13) |
| Surgeon mothers (I11) | Birth outcomes (J13) |
| Surgeons (J44) | Preterm delivery (J19) |
| 2011 duty hour reform (I19) | Birth outcomes of physicians compared to lawyers (J44) |
| 2011 duty hour reform (I19) | Birth outcomes among surgeons compared to nonsurgeons (J44) |