The Wages of Nurses
This session contains three papers that assess different factors associated with the earnings of registered nurses (RNs). The first paper, “Relative Quality of Foreign Nurses in the United States” by Patricia Cortes and Jessica Pan, considers the wage premium received by foreign-educated RNs, and how this has changed over time. She finds differences associated with the country of origin of the RN, as well as changes over time. She then explores reasons for the wage premium and changes over time. The second paper considers the roles of licensing regulations and tort reforms on the earnings of nurse practitioners and physician assistants. The analysis exploits state-to-state variation in both the scope of practice permitted for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and the medical liability laws in each state. The third paper, “The Return of Men to Nursing” by Elizabeth Munnich and Abigail Wozniak, explores the role of wages and other factors in increasing male participation in the nursing profession. They also consider the role of cultural and other factors in this trend. Together, these three papers explore different aspects of the labor market for nurses, and wages result from and moderate labor market performance.