Volume 13, (Supplement) 1978
Fuchs, Victor R. 1978. "The Supply of Surgeons and the Demand for Operations." Journal of Human Resources 13(S):35-56.
This paper presents a multiequation, multivariate analysis of differences in the supply of surgeons and the demand for operations across geographical areas of the United States in 1963 and 1970. The results provide considerable support for the hypothesis that surgeons shift the demand for operations. Other things equal, a 10 percent increase in the surgeon/population ratio results in about a 3 percent increase in per capita utilization. Moreover, differences in supply seem to have a perverse effect on fees, raising them when the surgeon/population ratio increases. Surgeon supply is in part determined by factors unrelated to demand, especially by the attractiveness of the area as a place to live.
The author is Professor of Economics, Stanford University, and Vice President, National Bureau of Economic Research. I am grateful to Louis Garrison and Natalie Ziegler for research assistance, to Lawrence J. Lau for econometric advice, and to the participants in the NBER conference on "The Economics of Physician and Patient Behavior" for helpful comments on an earlier draft. This paper has not yet undergone the review accorded official NBER publications; in particular, it has not yet been submitted to the Board of Directors for approval.
© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X