Delivery Overcrowding in January

Suhyeon Wi and Jong Hwa Lee

Global Economic Review, 2025, vol. 54, issue 2, 136-166

Abstract: The study examines the inefficiencies arising from delivery overcrowding at the beginning of the year, driven by parental preferences related to Korea's school-entry cut-off policy. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design focussing on a specific patient cohort, we assess the influence of hospital overcrowding on the provision of medical services and subsequent health outcomes considering heterogeneous patient and physician characteristics. Despite the inability of mothers delivering spontaneously to manipulate delivery dates, scheduled births substantially increase early in the year due to Korea's school-age policy. Consequently, patients receiving treatment during this period experience reduced medical interventions, lower fetal monitoring rates, and decreased likelihood of undergoing certain procedures. Notably, deliveries in early January are associated with lower costs, reflecting an 8.7% reduction compared to the average expense for spontaneous deliveries.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/1226508X.2025.2532456

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