Pavel Molchanov*, Anna Zaytseva**

Internal seminars
phd seminar

Pavel Molchanov*, Anna Zaytseva**

AMSE
Productivity uncertainty and sub-optimal capital input*
Estimating general practitioners’ performance in low medical density areas: evidence from French synthetic cohort data**
Venue

IBD Salle 16

Îlot Bernard du Bois - Salle 16

AMU - AMSE
5-9 boulevard Maurice Bourdet
13001 Marseille

Date(s)
Tuesday, February 25 2020| 12:45pm to 2:15pm
Contact(s)

Anushka Chawla: anushka.chawla[at]univ-amu.fr
Laura Sénécal: laura.senecal[at]univ-amu.fr
Carolina Ulloa Suarez: carolina.ulloa-suarez[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

*This theoretical paper investigates the role of uncertainty on output and capital input decision by firms. Uncertainty is defined by the volatility of firm productivity. First, I find that higher volatility decreases the equilibrium output and capital employment, generating a drop in GDP. Secondly, such effect differs in magnitude across firms of different size: smaller companies are afflicted to a greater extent by the economic uncertainty than bigger ones. The government can correct the GDP gap by providing a capital subsidy to firms. The policy conclusion is that, during the periods of higher economic ambiguity, the government should subsidise smaller businesses more intensively.

**Disparities in physicians' geographical distribution lead to highly unequal access to healthcare, which may impact quality of care, especially in areas with low medical density. We use five independent cross-sectional surveys on private practice general practitioners (GPs) in France from 2007 to 2013 matched with Social Security data. We adopt Deaton (1985) approach to create 30 cohorts of GPs (266 GPs per cohort on average) that form a synthetic cohort. We estimate linear fixed effects model for variables describing GPs working conditions, such as workload and working hours, as well as several per patient prescription indicators, e.g. total volume of drug prescription, lab tests, nurses, physical therapists. Preliminary results suggest that GPs in lower density areas have greater workload, prescribe more drugs and lab tests. There is no significant difference in prescription of paramedics (both nurses and physical therapists).