Brain drain in the health care sector? Impact of the Mais Médicos program in Argentina, 2010–2019

Abstract

The Mais Médicos program (2013) tried to attract physicians to rural and peripheral areas of Brazil by encouraging physicians from other countries immigrate to these areas. Its creation generated widespread concern on the border areas of Argentina due to the potential brain drain (emigration of qualified professionals) in the health care sector. This study provides evidence on this topic. The identification strategy exploits the plausibly exogenous timing on the implementation of the program and the different levels of proximity of the Argentine provinces with respect to Brazil. Despite the widespread belief of a brain drain toward Brazil, the results suggest that the availability of physicians in Argentina did not show a significant reduction after the implementation of the program on the border areas of Argentina. There are also no indications of changes in the extensive (hours worked) or intensive (hourly wages) margins of the physician labor market. This evidence is robust against multiple checks and placebos. From a territorial equity perspective, there is no evidence that the creation of the program has contributed to widening regional disparities in Argentina, i.e., fewer physicians in the poorest region.