Physician induced demand for C-sections: does the convenience incentive matter?

This paper investigates whether physicians induce demand for C-sections in the days preceding leisure periods. I reject that doctors are meaningfully increasing the number of primary cesareans to accommodate their own preferences for control of deliveries around holiday Mondays. Using a sample of more than 1,300,000 deliveries, I can estimate that the induced demand due to convenience is close to zero. A small signicant eect is found for women having had a previous C-section. While I replicate previous results of lower C-section rates on leisure periods, I show that they are due to the way doctors schedule planned cesareans rather than to an induced demand for reason of physicians' convenience. If induced demand occurs, the decision takes place in the labor room and is not planned in advance.status: publishe