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Does Your Doctor Matter?

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  • Rita Ginja
  • Julie Riise
  • Barton Willage
  • Alexander Willén

Abstract

We estimate doctor value added (VA) by combining population-wide patient-doctor register data with exogenous variation in the assignment of patients to general practitioners (GPs). We find substantial variation in the quality of GPs as measured by patients’ postassignment mortality. Certain doctor characteristics and practice styles predict VA, but most of the variation in GP quality is driven by differences in GPs’ unobserved ability. VA variation across GPs primarily reflects differences in GPs’ ability to engage in prevention and assign the right procedure to the patient. Finally, patients are unable to identify who the high-quality doctors are, and patient-generated ratings are uncorrelated with GP VA.

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  • Rita Ginja & Julie Riise & Barton Willage & Alexander Willén, 2025. "Does Your Doctor Matter?," Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 497-538.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpemic:doi:10.1086/732838
    DOI: 10.1086/732838
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    1. Dodini, Samuel & Lundborg, Petter & Løken, Katrine & Willén, Alexander, 2025. "The Fatal Consequences of Brain Drain," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 9/2025, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.

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