Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/177034 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11230
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, I assess the extent to which the gender gap in physician earnings may be driven by physicians' preference for working with specialists of the same gender. By analyzing administrative data on 100 million Medicare patient referrals, I provide robust evidence that doctors refer more to specialists of their same gender, a tendency known as homophily. I propose a new measure of homophily that is invariant to differences between the genders in the propensity to refer or receive referrals. I show that biased referrals are predominantly driven by physicians' decisions rather than by endogenous sorting of physicians or patients or by gender differences in the labor supply. As 75% of doctors are men, estimates suggest biased referrals generate a 5% lower demand for female relative to male specialists, pointing to a positive externality for increased female participation in medicine.
Subjects: 
networks
referrals
gender
physician markets
JEL: 
I11
J16
L14
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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