| The purpose of this dissertation is to use occupational choice and economic labor theory in concert with a unique longitudinal dataset of medical residents to determine whether or not men and women, blacks and non-blacks use the same preference set of economic factors when choosing their area of medical specialty. While we are beset with a multitude of diversity programs meant to increase the number of minorities in various medical specialties, and while the feminine gender has benefited from such programs greatly, the minority men and women seem not to have profited as was intended. The data appear to be telling us that between issues of gender and ethnicity, it is gender that is the impetus to choice. In an effort to have both a career and family with the least amount of opportunity cost, women seem to be choosing specialties that allow for the possibility of both. The long-term outcome for the medical industry depends on the flows of people into each medical specialty. So, knowing how physicians are choosing their career is essential to managing the flows of doctors within the medical industry, especially if national health care becomes a reality. |
