General practitioners' incomes - three microeconometric studies.

Summary The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the remuneration of French general practitioners. Three microeconometric studies are conducted using longitudinal data. The first chapter studies the impact of the regulation of medical demography on the careers of general practitioners. We show that intergenerational inequalities are considerable and that demographic regulation has a strong influence on doctors' fees. Doctors who were installed in the 1980s suffer from the combined impact of the baby boom and a high numerus clausus: they receive the lowest fees. On the other hand, the gradual reduction of the numerus clausus has improved the financial situation of the cohorts installed from the mid-1990s onwards. A second chapter focuses on a remarkable phenomenon in the GP population: the existence of a large minority of low-income doctors. We observe that 5 to 7% of GPs have a monthly income of less than 1.5 SMIC net. We show that these low incomes result from the greater preference of these doctors for leisure activities. This very low activity is not a sign of a deterioration in the status of the doctor. Rather, it reflects an advantage of being a private doctor: doctors can choose to work little A third chapter evaluates the position of general practitioners by comparing their income with that of employees at the top of the salary hierarchy: senior executives. The comparison of the value of the careers of doctors and executives makes it possible to measure the relative advantage of being a doctor. The analysis shows that there is a clear financial advantage to being a general practitioner and that this advantage has increased over time. The existence of an annuity for doctors is the result of the competitive examination for admission to medical school. This rent has evolved positively with the restrictions on the numerus clausus.