 Social networks, information and health care utilization: Evidence from undocumented immigrants in MilanJournal of Health Economics, 2008, vol. 27, issue 2, 265-286 Abstract: This paper uses a novel dataset and research design to examine the effects of information networks on immigrants' access to health care. The dataset consists of an unusually large sample of undocumented immigrants and contains a direct indicator of information networks--whether an immigrant was referred to health care opportunities by a strong social tie (relative or friend). This measure allows to overcome some of the major identification issues that afflict most of the existing literature on network effects and to concentrate on one of the channels through which social contacts might operate. The analysis focuses on the time spent in Italy before an immigrant first receives medical assistance. Estimates indicate that networks significantly foster health care utilization: after controlling for all available individual characteristics and for ethnic heterogeneity, I find that relying on a strong social tie reduces the time to visit by 30%. The effect of information networks is stable across specifications and it is relatively large. Further investigation seems to confirm the quantitative importance of networks as an information device. Date: 2008 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:27:y:2008:i:2:p:265-286 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Health Economics is currently edited by J. P. Newhouse, A. J. Culyer, R. Frank, K. Claxton and T. McGuire More articles in Journal of Health Economics from Elsevier |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.