IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp16990.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of Mandatory Residencies on Female Physicians' Specialty Choices: Evidence from Japan's New Medical Residency Program

Author

Listed:
  • Okumura, Tsunao

    (Yokohama National University)

  • Ueno, Yuko

    (Hitotsubashi University)

  • Usui, Emiko

    (Hitotsubashi University)

Abstract

Female physicians remain underrepresented in surgical specialties in Japan. The 2004 New Postgraduate Medical Education Program mandated a two-year rotating residency that allowed residents to choose their specialty after training in multiple fields, including surgery. Following this reform, there was a 2.7 percentage points increase in female physicians choosing general surgery and a 1.5 percentage points increase in urology being chosen, compared to male physicians, as well as a 3.4 percentage points decrease in internal medicine being chosen. This shift of female physicians toward male-dominated surgical specialties is primarily seen in breast surgery, catering to female patients, and in urology, known for its shorter workweeks.

Suggested Citation

  • Okumura, Tsunao & Ueno, Yuko & Usui, Emiko, 2024. "Effects of Mandatory Residencies on Female Physicians' Specialty Choices: Evidence from Japan's New Medical Residency Program," IZA Discussion Papers 16990, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16990
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp16990.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sarah R. Cohodes & Helen Ho & Silvia C. Robles, "undated". "STEM Summer Programs for Underrepresented Youth Increase STEM Degrees," Mathematica Policy Research Reports e54c244b982c45589c8e1e55a, Mathematica Policy Research.
    2. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier, 2012. "Are Women Overinvesting in Education? Evidence from the Medical Profession," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(2), pages 124-149.
    3. Melanie Wasserman, 2023. "Hours Constraints, Occupational Choice, and Gender: Evidence from Medical Residents," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(3), pages 1535-1568.
    4. Jayanta Bhattacharya, 2005. "Specialty Selection and Lifetime Returns to Specialization Within Medicine," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(1).
    5. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2011. "The Cost of Workplace Flexibility for High-Powered Professionals," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 638(1), pages 45-67, November.
    6. Esteves-Sorenson, Constança & Snyder, Jason, 2012. "The gender earnings gap for physicians and its increase over time," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 37-41.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joshua D. Gottlieb & Maria Polyakova & Kevin Rinz & Hugh Shiplett & Victoria Udalova, 2020. "Who Values Human Capitalists' Human Capital? Healthcare Spending and Physician Earnings," Working Papers 20-23, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Stefanie Schurer & Daniel Kuehnle & Anthony Scott & Terence C. Cheng, 2016. "A Man's Blessing or a Woman's Curse? The Family Earnings Gap of Doctors," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 385-414, July.
    3. Dan Zeltzer, 2020. "Gender Homophily in Referral Networks: Consequences for the Medicare Physician Earnings Gap," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 169-197, April.
    4. Joseph G. Altonji & Ling Zhong, 2021. "The Labor Market Returns to Advanced Degrees," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(2), pages 303-360.
    5. Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Can perceived returns explain enrollment gaps in postgraduate education?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Joseph G. Altonji & Peter Arcidiacono & Arnaud Maurel, 2015. "The Analysis of Field Choice in College and Graduate School: Determinants and Wage Effects," NBER Working Papers 21655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Joshua D. Gottlieb & Maria Polyakova & Kevin Rinz & Hugh Shiplett & Victoria Udalova, 2023. "Who Values Human Capitalists' Human Capital? The Earnings and Labor Supply of U.S. Physicians," NBER Working Papers 31469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Committee, Nobel Prize, 2023. "Scientific Background to the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2023-2, Nobel Prize Committee.
    9. Elaine Kelly & Isabel Stockton, 2024. "A senior doctor like me: Gender match and occupational choice," IFS Working Papers W24/11, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Grosch, Kerstin & Haeckl, Simone & Kocher , Martin G., 2022. "Closing the gender STEM gap. A large-scale randomized-controlled trial in elementary schools," UiS Working Papers in Economics and Finance 2022/4, University of Stavanger.
    11. Cortes, Patricia & Pan, Jessica, 2016. "Prevalence of Long Hours and Skilled Women's Occupational Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 10225, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. M. Keith Chen & Judith A. Chevalier, 2012. "Are Women Overinvesting in Education? Evidence from the Medical Profession," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(2), pages 124-149.
    13. Ariel J. Binder & Amanda Eng & Kendall Houghton & Andrew Foote, 2024. "Is the Gender Pay Gap Largest at the Top?," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 114, pages 248-253, May.
    14. Finlay, Jocelyn E., 2021. "Women’s reproductive health and economic activity: A narrative review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    15. Grosch, Kerstin & Häckl, Simone & Kocher, Martin G., 2022. "Closing the gender STEM gap," Department of Economics Working Paper Series 329, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    16. Di Paolo, Antonio & Tansel, Aysit, 2017. "Analyzing Wage Differentials by Fields of Study: Evidence from Turkey," GLO Discussion Paper Series 91, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Ethné Swartz & Frances Amatucci, 2018. "Framing Second Generation Gender Bias: Implications For Women’S Entrepreneurship," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(02), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz, 2016. "A Most Egalitarian Profession: Pharmacy and the Evolution of a Family-Friendly Occupation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(3), pages 705-746.
    19. Ilse Lindenlaub & Anja Prummer, 2014. "Gender, Social Networks And Performance," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1461, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    20. Grace Lordan & Jörn‐Steffen Pischke, 2022. "Does Rosie Like Riveting? Male and Female Occupational Choices," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 110-130, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    specialty choice; policy reform; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16990. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.