Do physicians respond to liability standards?

Michael Frakes*, Matthew B. Frank, Seth Seabury

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We explore the sensitivity of the clinical decisions of physicians to the standards of care expected of them under the law, drawing on the abandonment by states over time of rules holding physicians to standards determined by local customs and the contemporaneous adoption of national-standardrules.Using data on broad rates of surgical interventions at the county-by-year level from the Area Resource File, we find that local surgery rates converge towards national surgery rates upon the adoption of national-standard rules. Moreover, we find that these effects are more pronounced among rural counties.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)58-77
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics
Volume171
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2015

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Economics and Econometrics

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