Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/311943 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17504
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study how the threat of entry affects service quantity and quality of general practitioners (GPs). We leverage Germany's needs-based primary care planning system, in which the likelihood of new GPs reduces by 20 percentage points when primary care coverage exceeds a cut-off. We compile novel data covering all German primary care regions and up to 30,000 GP-level observations from 2014 to 2019. Reduced threat of entry lowers patient satisfaction for incumbent GPs without nearby competitors but not in areas with competitors. We find no effects on working hours or quality measures at the regional level including hospitalizations and mortality.
Subjects: 
threat of entry
healthcare provision
general practitioners
entry regulation
regression discontinuity design
JEL: 
I11
I18
J44
J22
L10
L22
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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