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Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State

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  • Jonathan Gruber
  • Samuel A. Kleiner

Abstract

Hospitals now represent one of the largest union sectors of the US economy, and there is particular concern about the impact of strikes on patient welfare. We analyze the effects of nurses' strikes in hospitals on patient outcomes in New York State. Controlling for hospital specific heterogeneity, the results show that nurses' strikes increase in-hospital mortality by 18.3 percent and 30-day readmission by 5.7 percent for patients admitted during a strike, with little change in patient demographics, disease severity or treatment intensity. The results suggest that hospitals functioning during nurses' strikes do so at a lower quality of patient care. (JEL H75, I11, I12, J52)

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Gruber & Samuel A. Kleiner, 2012. "Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 127-157, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:4:y:2012:i:1:p:127-57
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/pol.4.1.127
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    Cited by:

    1. Benjamin U. Friedrich & Martin B. Hackmann, 2017. "The Returns to Nursing: Evidence from a Parental Leave Program," NBER Working Papers 23174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jonathan Gruber & Samuel A. Kleiner, 2012. "Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 127-157, February.
    3. Engy Ziedan & Kosali I. Simon & Coady Wing, 2022. "Mortality Effects of Healthcare Supply Shocks: Evidence Using Linked Deaths and Electronic Health Records," NBER Working Papers 30553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Brenøe, Anne Ardila & Canaan, Serena & Harmon, Nikolaj & Royer, Heather, 2019. "Is Parental Leave Costly for Firms and Coworkers?," IZA Discussion Papers 12870, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Kolstad, Jonathan T. & Kowalski, Amanda E., 2012. "The impact of health care reform on hospital and preventive care: Evidence from Massachusetts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 909-929.
    6. Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr & Tsapin, Andriy, 2018. "Shock contagion, asset quality and lending behavior," BOFIT Discussion Papers 21/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    7. Carol Propper & George Stoye & Ben Zaranko, 2020. "The Wider Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the NHS," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 345-356, June.
    8. Piérard, Emmanuelle, 2014. "The effect of physician supply on health status: Canadian evidence," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 56-65.
    9. Stefan Bauernschuster & Timo Hener & Helmut Rainer, 2017. "When Labor Disputes Bring Cities to a Standstill: The Impact of Public Transit Strikes on Traffic, Accidents, Air Pollution, and Health," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-37, February.
    10. Kelly, E.; & Propper, C.; & Zaranko, B.;, 2022. "Team composition and productivity: evidence from nursing teams in the English National Health Service," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 22/19, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    11. Peter McHenry & Jennifer Mellor, 2018. "Medicare hospital payment adjustments and nursing wages," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 169-196, June.
    12. Barrero, Jose Maria, 2022. "The micro and macro of managerial beliefs," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 640-667.
    13. Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr & Tsapin, Andriy, 2018. "Shock contagion, asset quality and lending behavior," BOFIT Discussion Papers 21/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    14. Eduardo Costa, 2022. "The unintended consequences of hospital strikes on patient outcomes evidence from multiple strikes in the Portuguese National Health Service," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(11), pages 2499-2511, November.
    15. Topi Miettinen & Olli Ropponen & Pekka Sääskilahti, 2020. "Prospect Theory, Fairness, and the Escalation of Conflict at a Negotiation Impasse," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 122(4), pages 1535-1574, October.
    16. Nassim Nicholas Taleb & Jeffrey West, 2022. "Working With Convex Responses: Antifragility From Finance to Oncology," Papers 2209.14631, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    17. Furtado, Delia & Ortega, Francesc, 2020. "Does Immigration Improve Quality of Care in Nursing Homes?," IZA Discussion Papers 13552, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Knutsson, Daniel & Tyrefors, Björn, 2020. "The Quality and Efficiency Between Public and Private Firms: Evidence from Ambulance Services," Working Paper Series 1365, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 01 Jul 2021.
    19. repec:zbw:bofitp:2018_021 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Michael DiNardi, 2017. "Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions and the Impact on Nurses," 2017 Papers pdi509, Job Market Papers.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation

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    1. Do Strikes Kill? Evidence from New York State (American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2012) in ReplicationWiki

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