%0 Report
        %A Albertini, Mattia
%A Bakx, Pieter
%A Mazzonna, Fabrizio
        %T Health and Labor Market Consequences of Low-Value Care: The Role of Practice Style
        %D 2025
        %8 2025 Mar
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 17771
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp17771
        %X We investigate the health and labor market consequences of primary care variation in benzodiazepine prescriptions, a common type of low-value care. Linking Dutch general practitioners’ records to administrative data, we construct an exogenous measure of prescribing behavior that exploits institutional constraints limiting patient choice. Using the loss of a close relative as a common mental health shock and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, we find that patients treated by high-prescribing GPs are more likely to receive out-of-guidelines benzodiazepine prescriptions, become long-term users, and are less likely to access specialized mental health care. These patients also experience worse labor market outcomes, including increased short-term reliance on unemployment benefits and substantial long-term declines in earnings, primarily driven by reduced wages.
        %K labor market
%K mental health
%K prescribing style
%K primary care
%K benzodiazepine
%K bereavement