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IZA Discussion Paper No. 16995
May 2024
Biological, Behavioural and Spurious Selection on the Kidney Transplant Waitlist

The kidney allocation system aims to distribute kidneys from deceased donors in an equitable and potential-life optimising manner. This is a difficult task, not least because intrinsic biological differences, such as a person's ABO blood type, influence the allocation. This paper begins by presenting a curious and undocumented empirical fact: candidates on the kidney transplant waitlist with blood types implying they will more rapidly be offered a kidney display lower pre-transplant survival. The paper investigates whether this difference in pre-transplant survival is due to biological, behavioural, or spurious selection. To that end, we promote a two-in-one randomization design which allows us to credibly fit our empirical setting within a dynamic potential outcomes framework. Using this framework, drawing from economic theory, and noting problematic financial and legal market incentives, the paper systematically evaluates different explanations for pre-transplant survival patterns. Our analysis establishes a small set of behavioural explanations which directly inform debates about how to reduce the excessive discard of viable kidneys in the US transplant market.

Communications
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Network Coordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

The IZA@LISER Network is a global community of scholars dedicated to excellence in labor economics and related fields, now coordinated at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) following its transition from Bonn.

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