Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/159874 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Quaderni - Working Paper DSE No. 1036
Publisher: 
Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche (DSE), Bologna
Abstract: 
Physicians are often alleged responsible for the manipulation of delivery timing. We investigate this issue in a setting that negates the influence of financial incentives behind "physician's demand induction" but allows for "risk aversion" to medical errors and "demand for leisure" motivations. Working on a sample of women admitted at the onset of labor in a big public hospital in Italy we estimate a model for the exact time of delivery as driven by individual indication to receive Caesarean Section (CS) and covariates. We find that ICS does not affect the day of delivery but leads to a circadian rhythm in the likelihood of delivery. The pattern is consistent with the postponement of high ICS deliveries in the late night\early morning shift. Our evidence hardly supports the manipulation of timing of births as driven by medical staff's "demand for leisure". An explanation based on "risk aversion" attitude seems more appropriate.
JEL: 
I11
L23
C35
C51
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
574.1 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.