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Folbre Co-authors Article on Nursing Pay

Nurses who are well paid for their skills and performance provide higher quality healthcare, according to an article co-authored by Economics professor Nancy Folbre and Julie A. Nelson, senior research associate at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University.

“Why a Well-Paid Nurse Is a Better Nurse,” published in the May-June issue of the journal Nursing Economic$, challenges an earlier article by economist Anthony Heyes in the Journal of Health Economics that argued that lower wages attract more motivated, “vocationally called” nurses who are better caregivers.

Folbre and Nelson contend that good nursing is the result of superior clinical and technical knowledge. They also dispute Heyes’ assertion that raising wages reduces the proportion of nurses who are called to the profession, which leads to a decrease in the quality of care. Wages tied to job performance can help retain experienced “good” nurses, according to Nelson and Folbre, who also claim that lack of wage incentives in the U.S. are contributing to the nursing shortage and the need to recruit foreign nurses.

June 14, 2006