Geographic Variation in Cesarean Sections in the United States: Trends, Correlates, and Other Interesting Facts

Sarah Robinson, Heather Royer and David Silver

No 31871, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Analyzing data spanning three decades covering the near universe of births, we study county-level differences in Cesarean section (C-section) rates among first-time mothers of singleton births. Our research reveals persistent geographic variation in C- section rates for both low- and high-risk groups. Counties with elevated C-section rates consistently perform more C-sections across mothers at all levels of appropriateness for the procedure. These elevated rates of C-section in high C-section counties are associated with reduced maternal and infant morbidity. We also find that C-section decisions are less responsive to underlying risks for Black mothers relative to white mothers, suggesting potential welfare-reducing disparities.

JEL-codes: I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-ure
Note: CH EH
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published as Sarah Robinson & Heather Royer & David Silver, 2024. "Geographic Variation in Cesarean Sections in the United States: Trends, Correlates, and Other Interesting Facts," Journal of Labor Economics, vol 42(S1), pages S219-S259.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.nber.org/papers/w31871.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html. Free access is also available to older working papers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31871

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.nber.org/papers/w31871
The price is Paper copy available by mail.

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().