Gender Homophily in Referral Networks: Consequences for the Medicare Physician Earnings Gap
研究利用1亿次医疗保险患者转诊数据，发现医生更倾向转诊给同性别专科医生，这种偏好主要由医生决策驱动，且因男性转诊医生占多数，导致女性专科医生需求相对较低，加剧了收入差距。
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.