Team Composition and the Returns to Human Capital: Evidence from Nursing Teams
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Series
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Speaker(s)Ben Zaranko (Institute For Fiscal Studies, United Kingdom)
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FieldEmpirical Microeconomics
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LocationErasmus University Rotterdam, Campus Woudestein, Langeveld 1.18
Rotterdam -
Date and time
December 12, 2023
12:00 - 13:00
Abstract
This paper examines the role of team production in healthcare, a sector where collaboration, communication and knowledge sharing are crucial. Employing novel high-frequency data we examine the impact of the size and human capital of hospital nursing teams on inpatient mortality. We find significant adverse mortality impacts of shortages of nurses with higher levels of general and firm-specific human capital but no clear returns to location- or team-specific experience. Adverse impacts of nurse shortages are particularly concentrated among patients with sepsis, a condition where early detection is key and nurses play a direct role in monitoring and assessing patients.