The Evolution of the Labor Market for Medical Interns and Residents: A Case Study in Game Theory

TLDR

The labor market for medical interns and residents has evolved through multiple reforms since 1951, providing a rare opportunity to examine the market forces that shape such specialized labor markets. The paper aims to explain the orderly operation and longevity of the current intern/resident labor market using a game‑theoretic analysis. It employs a game‑theoretic framework to model the market’s structure and dynamics. The study also identifies contemporary challenges confronting the intern/resident labor market.

Abstract

The organization of the labor market for medical interns and residents underwent a number of changes before taking its present form in 1951. The record of these changes and the problems that prompted them provides an unusual opportunity to study the forces at work in markets of this kind. The present paper begins with a brief history and then presents a game-theoretic analysis to explain the orderly operation and longevity of the current market, in contrast to the turmoil that characterized various earlier short-lived attempts to organize the market. An analysis is also given of some contemporary problems facing the market. A subsidiary theme of the paper concerns the history of ideas: the problems encountered in the organization of this market, and some of the solutions arrived at, anticipated the discussion of such issues in the literature of economics and game theory.