名师大讲堂2024第4期预告

Too Busy to be Cured? Impacts of the Opportunity Cost of Time on Healthcare Utilization

时间：2024年6月13日10:00—12:00

地点：科研楼1115室

主讲人：黄炜，北京大学副教授（长聘）

题目：Too Busy to be Cured? Impacts of the Opportunity Cost of Time on Healthcare Utilization

主讲人简介：

黄炜，北京大学博雅青年学者、北京大学国家发展研究院经济学副教授（长聘），海外高层次国家级青年人才计划入选者，国发院本科教学主任。先后任职于美国经济研究局（NBER）、新加坡国立大学（NUS）和美国埃默里大学（Emory University）。研究兴趣主要集中于劳动经济学、健康经济学和公共经济学等领域。黄炜老师于2016年获得哈佛大学经济学博士学位。黄炜老师在Nature，REStat，AEJ-applied，JoLE，JDE，JHR，JEP和《经济研究》、《管理世界》、《世界经济》、《经济学》（季刊） 国内外顶尖学术期刊上发表论文40余篇。担任国际SSCI杂志EoT共同主编，JEBO, CER和JAE副主编以及《经济学》（季刊）副主编。曾获张培刚发展经济学青年学者奖，青木昌彦经济学论文奖，教育部人文社科优秀成果-青年成果奖等。

Abstract: We leverage two natural experiments in China to examine the impacts of changes in the opportunity cost of time on healthcare utilization. First, among employees eligible for the statutory retirement age policy, those above 60 are 4.5 pp (61 percent) more likely to use inpatient care than when they were below the statutory retirement age. This effect is more salient for high-wage employees and can’t be explained by the change in household income. The share of household healthcare expenditures increases by 3.9 pp (35 percent). By contrast, negligible changes occur in outpatient care usage, health status, and health behaviors. Second, we investigate the impacts of the policy to begin the fall semester on September 1st. School-aged children are 0.3 pp (15 percent) less likely to stay in the hospital after school starts. Such reduction is mainly due to the increased hospital discharges before September 1st. These findings highlight the critical role of time in healthcare utilization.