Ity Shurtz’s research while affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and other places

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Publications (12)


Figure 1: Units sold by Remedia's competitors around the Remedia Event
Figure 1: The impact of the Remedia Event on months worked within six months of childbirth
Figure 3: The impact of the Remedia Event on the number of milk pumps lent
Figure 6: The effect of the Remedia Event on the likelihood to work
The impact of the Remedia Event on mothers' return to work , DD Estimates per month by household income

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Breastfeeding and the return to work after childbirth of new mothers: evidence from a baby formula scare *
  • Preprint
  • File available

June 2024

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21 Reads

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Ity Shurtz

We use a baby formula "food scare" in Israel in 2003 as a plausible natural experiment to study the causal relationship between breastfeeding and mothers' return to work after childbirth. Analysis of administrative data covering the universe of births in the country shows that first-time mothers' average months worked in the first six months after childbirth fell by about 4 percent. This effect is driven by mothers from above-median income households. The likelihood of consuming baby formula of households with new mothers decreased by about 15 percent, supporting the view that the delay in the return to work after childbirth is driven by an increase in breastfeeding. The results indicate that despite developments in technology and policy changes in recent decades, mothers still trade-off work for the benefits of breastfeeding to their children.

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Breastfeeding and the Return to Work after Childbirth of New Mothers: Evidence from a Baby Formula Scare

January 2024

SSRN Electronic Journal

We use a baby formula “food scare” in Israel in 2003 as a plausible natural experiment to study the causal relationship between breastfeeding and mothers’ return to work after childbirth. Analysis of administrative data covering the universe of births in the country shows that first-time mothers who gave birth shortly after the scare delayed their return to work. Their average months worked in the first six months after childbirth fell by about 11 percent relative to their counterparts in the previous year. Data from a major medical equipment lender in Israel indicates an increased likelihood of borrowing milk pumps, suggesting that the delay in returning to work was driven by an increase in breastfeeding. The results indicate that despite developments in technology and policy changes in recent decades, mothers still trade off work for the breastfeeding of their children.


Figure 2: The Estimated Impact of Difficult Cases on Testing, by Testing Propensity Score
Challenging Encounters and Within-Physician Practice Variability

March 2023

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6 Reads

Review of Economics and Statistics

We examine how physician decisions are impacted by difficult cases—encounters with newly diagnosed cancer patients. Using detailed administrative data, we compare primary care physicians' decisions in visits that occurred before and after difficult cases and matched comparison cases by the same physicians on other dates. Immediately following a difficult case, physicians increase referrals for common tests, including diagnostic tests unrelated to cancer. The effect lasts only for about an hour and is not driven by patient selection or schedule disruption. The results highlight difficult encounters as a source of variability in physician practice.



Physician workload and treatment choice: the case of primary care

November 2022

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11 Reads

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5 Citations

The RAND Journal of Economics

Primary care is a notable example of a service industry where capacity‐constrained suppliers face fluctuating demand levels. To meet this challenge, physicians trade off their time with patients with other inputs such as lab tests and referrals. We study this tradeoff using administrative data from a large Israeli HMO where the absence of colleagues generates exogenous variation in physician workload. We motivate and estimate a range of specifications, from a classic exclusion restriction within a linear model to non‐parametric, partially identified models. The results suggest that diagnostic inputs are unlikely to properly compensate for a decline in time spent with patients.



Heuristic thinking in the workplace: Evidence from primary care

May 2022

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38 Reads

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3 Citations

Health Economics

We study whether primary care physicians (PCPs) exercise left digit bias with respect to patients' age. Relying on a comprehensive administrative visit level data from a large Israeli HMO, we measure the intensity of patients' medical examination in visits that take place around a decadal birthday—a birthday that ends with zero—within a regression discontinuity framework. We find that in standard settings with clear patient information there is no evidence that PCPs exhibit left digit bias. However, when PCPs meet unfamiliar patients seeking immediate care, they are more likely to use basic diagnostic tests just above the decadal birthday threshold, indicating that under these circumstances, PCPs do use left digit bias.


Social Security, Labor Supply and Health of Older Workers: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Reform

November 2020

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12 Reads

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5 Citations

Journal of the European Economic Association

We study the effects of public pension systems on the retirement timing of older workers and, in turn, the health consequences of delaying retirement by those workers. Causal inference relies on a social security reform in Israel that shifted payments from husbands to their (non-working) wives, thereby substantially reducing the implied tax on the husband's employment while keeping overall household wealth constant. Using administrative social security data, we estimate extensive-margin labor supply elasticities w.r.t. the average net-of-tax rate of about 0.43 for men over 65. Using the reform to instrument for employment, we find that working an additional full year at old age decreases longevity. This mortality effect occurs after age 75 and is driven by workers holding blue-collar jobs. Finally, we evaluate the effect of the reform on earnings. The results imply a small value for an additional year of life, suggesting that workers underestimate the health cost of employment at older ages.




Citations (4)


... The existing literature on the impact of workload pressure in primary care settings presents mixed findings. Notably, a study by Shurtz et al. [24] focusing on primary care doctors in middle east demonstrates that increased workload pressure leads to shorter visit duration and a reduction in diagnostic inputs, such as referrals to secondary care and test laboratories. Similarly, research conducted by Freedman et al. [7] in the United States reveals that time-constrained doctors document fewer diagnoses, resulting in an increase in low-value care and a decrease in prescriptions for opioids and preventive care. ...

Reference:

The effect of workload on primary care doctors on referral rates and prescription patterns: evidence from English NHS
Physician workload and treatment choice: the case of primary care
  • Citing Article
  • November 2022

The RAND Journal of Economics

... As argued by French and Jones (2017), recent reforms of pension programs to encourage later retirement are unlikely to be successful if older individuals are too unhealthy to significantly extend their careers. Furthermore, uneven responses to these policies across health categories may exacerbate differences not only in lifetime earnings, but also in longevity, as found in Saporta-Eksten et al. (2021) for blue collar workers. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the recent literature focusing on how health shapes lifetime earnings inequality-see De Nardi et al. (2018) and Hosseini et al. (2021)-has to pay special attention to older ages. ...

Social Security, Labor Supply and Health of Older Workers: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Large Reform
  • Citing Article
  • November 2020

Journal of the European Economic Association

... The Sabbath in Israel has been previously analyzed for some exogenous-if not necessarily religion-specific-variations. For instance, Romem and Shurtz (2016) use it to demonstrate a connection between traffic volume and road accidents. Anson and Anson (2001) demonstrate lower rates of all-cause mortality on the Sabbath for Israeli Jews; they do not find a holiday effect or an effect among non-Jews. ...

The Accident Externality of Driving: Evidence from Observance of the Jewish Sabbath in Israel
  • Citing Article
  • August 2016

Journal of Urban Economics

... One of the most common chromosomal defect in fetuses is known to be Down Syndrome (DS or trisomy 21) (Shurtz, Brzezinski, and Frumkin 2016). DS does significantly impact both quality and length of life of individuals having this abnormality (Temming and Macones 2016) and their families. ...

The impact of financing of screening tests on utilization and outcomes: The case of amniocentesis
  • Citing Article
  • March 2016

Journal of Health Economics