Merchants of Death: The Effect of Credit Supply Shocks on Hospital Outcomes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aghamolla, Cyrus; Karaca-Mandic, Pinar; Li, Xuelin; Thakor, Richard T.
• 署名单位: Rice University; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20221705
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 3623-3668
• 关键词: myocardial-infarction; lending relationships; RELATIONSHIP BANKING; HEALTH; care; FIRMS; INVESTMENT; COSTS; determinants; PRODUCTIVITY

摘要

This study examines the link between credit supply and hospital health outcomes. We use bank stress tests as exogenous shocks to credit access for hospitals that have lending relationships with tested banks. We find that affected hospitals shift their operations to increase resource utilization following a negative credit shock but reduce the quality of their care to patients across a variety of measures, including a significant increase in risk-adjusted readmission and mortality rates. The results indicate that access to credit can affect the quality of health care hospitals deliver, pointing to important spillover effects of credit market frictions on health outcomes. ( JEL G21, G32, I11, I18)