The impact of regional health care coverage on infant mortality and disease incidence

Helge Liebert and Beatrice Mäder ()

No 1620, Economics Working Paper Series from University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of changes in the physician coverage ratio on infant mortality, perinatal mortality and the incidence of common childhood diseases. We utilize historical data and variation in the regional physician density provided by discriminatory policies in Germany in 1933, when Jewish physicians were expulsed from health insurance schemes and subsequently emigrated in large numbers. The results indicate substantial health effects. One additional physician per 1,000 of population reduces infant mortality by 23% and perinatal mortality by 16%. We find similar negative effects for gastrointestinal diseases, stillbirths and the incidence of measles, influenza and bronchitis. Using a semiparametric control function approach, we demonstrate that the marginal returns to coverage are nonlinear and decreasing. A coverage ratio of two physicians per 1,000 of population is sufficient to prevent mortality effects in the population.

Keywords: Infant mortality; physician coverage; health care supply; childhood diseases (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I18 N34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
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http://ux-tauri.unisg.ch/RePEc/usg/econwp/EWP-1620.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The impact of regional health care coverage on infant mortality and disease incidence (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usg:econwp:2016:20

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