Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272675 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16048
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We use the medical specialties of physician-patients with advanced cancer to study the role of knowledge versus networks in treatment choices and patient survival by matching comparable patients with doctors and admission periods to control unobserved doctor quality. Physician-patients are less likely to have surgery, radiation, or checkups and more likely to receive targeted therapy, spend more on drugs, enjoy a higher survival rate, and spend less on coinsurance than non-physician-patients. Knowledge mechanisms play a crucial role because the network effect explains some, but not all, patterns. For less informed physician-patients, possessing a network is equivalent to reducing medical knowledge.
Subjects: 
physician quality
social ties
communication
information
JEL: 
D83
I11
J44
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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