TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nicholson,Sean
TI  - How Much Do Medical Students Know About Physician Income?
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10542
PY  - 2004
Y2  - June 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10542
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10542.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sean Nicholson
Professor
Department of Policy Analysis and Management
Cornell University
102 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Tel: 607/254-6498
Fax: 607/255-4071
E-Mail: sn243@cornell.edu
AB  - Twenty-five cohorts of medical students were asked in their first and fourth year of school to estimate contemporaneous physician income in six different specialties.  The students' income estimation errors varied systematically over time and cross-sectionally by specialty and type of student.  The median student underestimated physician income by 15 percent, and the median absolute value of the estimation errors was 26 percent of actual income.  Students were 35 percent more accurate when estimating market income in their fourth relative to their first year, which indicates medical students learn a considerable amount before choosing a specialty.
ER  -