Short-Term Economic Impact of Rural Hospital Closures

Jacob Manlove and Brian Whitacre

No 252716, 2017 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2017, Mobile, Alabama from Southern Agricultural Economics Association

Abstract: Many rural hospitals across the United States are being forced to shut their doors, leading to questions about effects on local economies. This paper uses average treatment effects and difference in differences methodology to quantify the short-term impacts of closures, focusing on variables such as income, poverty, unemployment, home values, and shifts in industry employment. The likelihood of a hospital closure in a county was estimated and these propensity scores were then used to match the 43 counties that experienced a rural hospital closure with ‘otherwise similar’ counties whose hospitals did not close. Results suggest that recent rural hospital closures significantly impact many economic variables as well as creating shifts in occupations and industry.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Health Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:saea17:252716

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.252716

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