TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Kastoryano, Stephen
        TI  - Biological, Behavioural and Spurious Selection on the Kidney Transplant Waitlist
        PY  - 2024/May/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 16995
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp16995
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - kidney transplant
KW  - expectation effects
KW  - dynamic treatment effects
KW  - survival models
        ER  -