Venue: The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, 1 Towerview Drive, Durham, NC 27708-0120

 

Presentation

Are there differences in EMS Response Times between Blacks and Whites?

Authors: Elizabeth Ty Wilde (Princeton University)

Presenter: Elizabeth Ty Wilde (Princeton University)

Discussant: Lisa Gary (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Session: Racial Differences

Room: Geneen Auditorium

When: Monday 8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.

There is a strong popular perception within the United States that Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and 911 response times are significantly worse for Blacks relative to Whites. Surprisingly, there has been little or no documentation of differences in response times by race. In this paper, I study disparities in EMS response times between Blacks and Whites using exhaustive individual level data from three very distinct states: Mississippi, Illinois and Utah. I find that after controlling for observable characteristics, response times are, on average, longer for Blacks within the state of Illinois, but significantly shorter for Blacks within the state of Mississippi. Blacks have longer response times, on average, than Whites in Utah, but these differences are not statistically significant.