Journal of Political Economy · 2020 · D. Mark Anderson、Ryan P. Brown、Kerwin Kofi Charles、Daniel I. Rees
中文摘要
利用1900–1940年间各州和各市在助产士法规出台时间与具体内容上的差异,并使用从多种一手资料汇编而成的数据,我们发现要求助产士持证执业使孕产妇死亡率降低了7%–8%,并可能带来了婴儿死亡率的适度下降。这些估计值是迄今为止关于许可管制能够改善消费者健康的最有力证据,并直接关系到当前关于助产士许可制度利弊的政策辩论。
Abstract
Exploiting variation across states and municipalities in the timing and details of midwifery laws introduced during the period 1900–1940 and using data assembled from various primary sources, we find that requiring midwives to be licensed reduced maternal mortality by 7%–8% and may have led to modest reductions in infant mortality. These estimates represent the strongest evidence to date that licensing restrictions can improve the health of consumers and are directly relevant to ongoing policy debates on the merits of licensing midwives.