Our understanding of the determinants of physician skill and the extent to which skill is valued in the marketplace is superficial. Using a large, detailed panel of new obstetricians, we find that, even though physicians' maternal complication rates improve steadily with years of practice,...

Economic theory indicates that firms can match workers to jobs and promote productivity-enhancing specialization better than markets, yet few data exist. We empirically test whether firms enhance matching and specialization in the context of obstetrics. We then examine whether consumers benefit...

Small-area-variation studies have shown that physician treatment styles differ substantially both between and within markets, controlling for patient characteristics. Using data on the universe of deliveries in Florida and New York over a 15-year period, we examine why treatment styles differ...

This paper provides an empirical estimate of price' and risk' elasticities of demand for term life insurance for those who purchase some insurance. It finds that the elasticity with respect to changes in premiums is generally higher than the elasticity with respect to changes in risk. It also...

Epidemiologists and social scientists agree that place shapes health. But the model of "risk factor" epidemiology faces limits in explaining how neighborhoods, as complex systems, produce health or disease. This paper describes how visual methods can advance epidemiological inquiry. Drawing from...