Did UberX Reduce Ambulance Volume?

Leon Moskatel and David Slusky
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Leon Moskatel: Department of Medicine, Scripps Mercy Hospital;

No 201708, WORKING PAPERS SERIES IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED ECONOMICS from University of Kansas, Department of Economics

Abstract: Ambulances are a vital part of emergency medical services. However, they come in single, homogeneous, high intervention form, which is at times unnecessary, resulting in excessive costs for patients and insurers. In this paper, we ask whether UberX’s entry into a city caused substitution away from traditional ambulances for low risk patients, reducing overall volume. Using a city-panel over-time and leveraging that UberX enter markets sporadically over multiple years, we find that UberX entry reduced the per capital ambulance volume by at least 7%. Our result is robust to numerous specifications.

Keywords: Uber; Ambulances; Emergencies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I18 L91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-10, Revised 2017-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Journal Article: Did UberX reduce ambulance volume? (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kan:wpaper:201708

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