Skill Formation in the Labor Market for Physicians
This research project will contribute to our understanding of highly specialized workers labor market choices. To what extent do wages, other characteristics about the job or luck shape the decisions? And are there differences across genders? The physician labor market is particularly interesting as many societies are challenged by a lack of physicians in some geographical areas. Consequently, the post code may determine the level of treatment the patients receive. Over time, Torben Heien Nielsen's project will generate more knowledge on how to combat such inequalities.
We spend 10% of our GDP on health care. For this amount, the objective is to maintain a healthy population, and provide equal access to quality health care regardless where we live. Our physicians are at the center of the health care sector and their decisions are pivotal for the welfare in population. Thus, our physicians constitute one of the most important highly specialized professions in modern economies. This research project investigates how physician careers and practice styles are shaped.
Economists have several theories on the determinants of specialists’ careers. A simple idea is that people make decisions to maximize lifetime earnings. However, other circumstances play crucial roles, too. The challenge is to pin point which mechanisms that matter empirically for career paths. By investigating how different cohorts of physicians have been exposed to differential conditions in education and at the labor market, this research project will distinguish individual differences from circumstances. This requires data from the Danish National Archives, which we will be the first to utilize for these purposes.
Researchers
| Name | Title | Job responsibilities | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton, Sarah | Student FU |
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| Kristiansen, Ida Lykke | Postdoc | Health economics, family economics, child development inequality, applied microeconometrics |
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| Nielsen, Torben Heien | Professor | Health Behaviors; Health and Mortality Inequalities; Retirement and Savings; Health Measurement; Health Care Suppliers |
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| Simpson, Carl Benjamin | Student |
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Funded by:
Skill Formation in the Labor Market for Physicians has received a four year funding from the Independent Research Foundation Denmark through the Sapere Aude programme. The Sapere Aude Grant is granted to researchers who have carried out top class research in their field.
Period: January 2020 - December 2023
External members:
| Name | Title | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Itzik Fadlon | Assistant Professor |