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Wage Expectations and Access to Healthcare Occupations: Evidence from an Information Experiment

Author

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  • Juliana Bernhofer

    (Department of Economics, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy)

  • Alessandro Fedele

    (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy)

  • Mirco Tonin

    (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy)

Abstract

We analyze how financial incentives affect performance on the admission tests for medical and healthcare schools, a crucial step for aspiring healthcare professionals. To this end, we conducted a randomized information experiment with Italian applicants. We first elicited applicants' expectations about the starting wage of the healthcare job for which they intend to study. We then informed the treatment group about the true starting wages, while providing no information to the control group. Finally, we collected the test scores. Applicants expecting a lower wage tend to perform worse, but correcting wage expectations eliminates this difference; indeed, the treatment enhances the test scores when expectations are lower than the true wage level, while negative effects occur when expectations are higher. Moreover, the treatment does not induce adverse selection of low-altruism applicants.

Suggested Citation

  • Juliana Bernhofer & Alessandro Fedele & Mirco Tonin, 2022. "Wage Expectations and Access to Healthcare Occupations: Evidence from an Information Experiment," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS95, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    • Handle: RePEc:bzn:wpaper:bemps95
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    Cited by:

    1. Attema, Arthur E. & Galizzi, Matteo M. & Groß, Mona & Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Karay, Yassin & L’Haridon, Olivier & Wiesen, Daniel, 2023. "The formation of physician altruism," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Alessandro Fedele & Mirco Tonin & Daniel Wiesen, 2025. "Self-selection into Health Professions," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS115, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    3. Alessandro Fedele & Mirco Tonin & Daniel Wiesen, 2025. "Self-Selection Into Health Professions," CESifo Working Paper Series 11918, CESifo.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments

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