The Physician "Shortage": The Economists' Mirror

Abstract

This paper is a brief account of what some well- informed economists have had to say about whether there is a "shortage" of physicians, and, if so, what its remedy might be. In the main, the consensus is that there currently is a shortage and that it has become worse since the middle 1950's (or that if we had enough physicians in the middle 1950's, then we have too few now). The immediate cause of the worsening of the shortage was not the restrictionist policies of the AMA, but the increased demand or willingness to pay on the part of the public. There is no consensus on how to measure the extent of the shortage nor even on whether an increase in the number of physicians would lead to lower fees and/or more physicians in ghettos and in rural areas. At least, by a common economic definition of a shortage there is a physician shortage, but no agreement on its extent or its remedy.