Replication data for: Gender Homophily in Referral Networks: Consequences for the Medicare Physician Earnings Gap

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Dan Zeltzer

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
affil_graph.R text/plain 1.9 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
affiliations.R text/plain 2 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
dist.R text/plain 1.3 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
nowork_spells.R text/plain 2.2 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
pay_table.R text/plain 2.2 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
ref_tables.R text/plain 6.8 KB 05/08/2025 08:22:PM
rundir.sh text/plain 313 bytes 05/08/2025 08:22:PM

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary I assess the extent to which the gender gap in physician earnings may be driven by physicians' preference for referring to specialists of the same gender. Analyzing administrative data on 100 million Medicare patient referrals, I provide robust evidence that doctors refer more to specialists of their own gender. I show that biased referrals are predominantly driven by physicians' decisions rather than by endogenous sorting of physicians or patients. Because most referring doctors are male, the net impact of same-gender bias by both male and female doctors generates lower demand for female relative to male specialists, pointing to a positive externality for increased female participation in medicine.

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      H51 National Government Expenditures and Health
      I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
      J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
      J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
      J44 Professional Labor Markets; Occupational Licensing


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Published Versions

V1 [2025-05-09]

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