The U.S. has a physician shortage, created in part by a century-old reform that shut down bad medical schools. But why haven’t we filled the gap? Why are some physicians so unhappy? And which is worse: a bad doctor or no doctor at all? <ul><li>SOURCES:<ul><li><a href="https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/faculty-research/profiles/clay-karenb/">Karen Clay</a>, professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University.</li><li><a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/about/rochelle-walensky-md-mph">Rochelle Walensky</a>, physician-scientist and former director of the CDC.</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>RESOURCES:<ul><li>"<a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w33937/w33937.pdf?utm_campaign=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&amp%3Butm_medium=PANTHEON_STRIPPED&amp%3Butm_source=PANTHEON_STRIPPED">Medical School Closures, Market Adjustment, and Mortality in the Flexner Report Era</a>," by Karen Clay, Grant Miller, Margarita Portnykh, and Ethan Schmick (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp2414572">Application Overload — A Call to Reduce the Burden of Applying to Medical School</a>," by Rochelle Walensky and Loren Walensky (New England Journal of Medicine, 2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr2412784">Challenges to the Future of a Robust Physician Workforce in the United States</a>," by Rochelle Walensky and Nicole McCann (New England Journal of Medicine, 2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/15/physician-shortage-gme-residency-specialties-setting-limitations/">The first step to addressing the physician shortage</a>," by Rochelle Walensky and Nicole McCann (STAT, 2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bureau-health-workforce/data-research/physicians-projections-factsheet.pdf">Physician Workforce: Projections, 2022-2037</a>," (National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, 2024).</li><li>“<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2769573">Projected Estimates of African American Medical Graduates of Closed Historically Black Medical Schools</a>,” by Kendall Campbell, Irma Corral, Jhojana Infante Linares, and Dmitry Tumin (JAMA Network, 2020).</li><li>"<a href="https://ia803109.us.archive.org/32/items/carnegieflexnerreport/Carnegie_Flexner_Report.pdf">Medical Education in the United States and Canada</a>," by Abraham Flexner (The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1910).</li></ul></li></ul> <ul><li>EXTRAS:<ul><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/is-the-air-traffic-control-system-broken/">Is the Air Traffic Control System Broken?</a>" series by Freakonomics Radio (2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-you-ready-for-the-elder-swell/">Are You Ready for the Elder Swell?</a>" by Freakonomics Radio (2025).</li><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-private-equity-firms-plundering-the-u-s-economy/">Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?</a>" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).</li></ul></li></ul> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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