The Distribution of Doctor Quality: Evidence from Cardiologists in England

George Stoye

Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, 2026, vol. 4, issue 2, 503 - 546

Abstract: I provide new evidence on the role doctors play in determining patient outcomes. I exploit within-hospital quasi-random assignment of heart attack patients to doctors to estimate the effectiveness of individual doctors. I estimate that a standard deviation increase in doctor quality reduces 1-year mortality by 1.0 percentage points (7% of mean mortality). I show mortality could be reduced by 4% by reassigning doctors within hospitals to patients on the basis of their comparative advantage in treating specific patient types. This suggests reallocating existing staff could substantially improve patient outcomes.

Date: 2026
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