Economic Motives and Professional Norms : The Case of General Medical Practice

Professional norms are supposed to have a central role in the allocation of resources when consumers have inferior information about the characteristics of products. We argue that economic motives are nevertheless important to resource allocation when professional opinions differ. The argument is illustrated with an example from medical care. We find that physicians who experience a shortage of patients have higher income, longer and more frequent consultations and more laboratory tests per listed person than their unconstrained colleagues