Death by austerity? The impact of cost containment on avoidable mortality in Italy
研究意大利紧缩政策Piano di Rientro对医疗成本和可避免死亡率的影响，发现该政策虽减少了南部地区赤字，却导致可避免死亡上升3%、医院容量下降和患者北迁。
Does austerity in health care affect health and healthcare outcomes? We examine the intended and unintended effects of the Italian austerity policy Piano di Rientro aimed at containing the cost of the healthcare sector. Using an instrumental variable strategy that exploits the temporal and geographical variation induced by the policy rollout, we find that the policy was successful in alleviating deficits by reducing expenditure, mainly in the southern regions, but also resulted in a 3% rise in avoidable deaths among both men and women, a reduction in hospital capacity and a rise in south-to-north patient migration. These findings suggest that-even in a high-income country with relatively low avoidable mortality like Italy-spending cuts can hurt survival.