Learn at lunch w/ MSU Women’s Center lectures
The MSU Women’s Center will present Sack Lunch Seminar on Wednesday, November 29th, Sack Lunch Seminar The Effect of Occupational Licensing on Consumer Welfare: Early Midwifery Laws and Maternal Mortality will unfold in SUB 168 from noon–1pm. Dr. Mark Anderson will present. He is an MSU Professor of Agricultural Economics.
Occupational licensing is intended to protect consumers. Whether it does so is an important, but unanswered, question. During this presentation, Dr. Anderson examines how the adoption of state midwifery licensing requirements in the early 20th century affected the likelihood of dying from complications of pregnancy and childbirth among American women. This historical episode represents a unique natural experiment that can be leveraged to document the causal effect of licensing on health.
Unlike today, American women in the early 20th century typically gave birth at home, where they were attended by a single healthcare provider, either a doctor or a midwife, who had sole responsibility for the health of the mother and infant. By drawing on historical data, it is possible to estimate the relationship between requiring that a group of healthcare providers (midwives) be licensed and a specific consumer health outcome (maternal mortality) over which they had a direct, immediate and profound impact.
The MSU Women’s Center is a department in the division of Student Success and was created to promote greater responsiveness to the needs of university women. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 9am–4pm during the academic year, when classes are in session. For more information about these and other events, visit www.montana.edu/women. •