Doctors Without Borders? Re-Licensing Requirements and Negative Selection in the Market for Physicians

Posted: 2 Sep 2004

See all articles by Adriana D. Kugler

Adriana D. Kugler

McCourt School of Public Policy ; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Robert M. Sauer

University of London - Royal Holloway College

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Abstract

Re-licensing requirements for professionals that move across borders are widespread. In this paper, we measure the effects of occupational licensing by exploiting an immigrant physician re-training assignment rule. Instrumental variables and quantile treatment effects estimates indicate large returns to acquiring an occupational license and negative selection into licensing status. We also develop a model of optimal license acquisition which, together with the empirical results, suggests that stricter re-licensing requirements may not only lead to practitioner rents, but also to lower average quality of service in the market for physicians.

Keywords: licensing, immigrants, physicians

JEL Classification: I11, J62, J44, J61

Suggested Citation

Kugler, Adriana Debora and Sauer, Robert M., Doctors Without Borders? Re-Licensing Requirements and Negative Selection in the Market for Physicians. Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 437-466, July 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=582342

Adriana Debora Kugler

McCourt School of Public Policy ( email )

3700 O ST NW
311 Old North
Washington, DC 20057
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Robert M. Sauer (Contact Author)

University of London - Royal Holloway College ( email )

Senate House
Malet Street
London, TW20 0EX
United Kingdom

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