Table 1 Descriptive statistics

Endogenous variables

 Number of C-section deliveries

6.2

8.7

2.3

3.3

 C-section ratio

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.1

Medical facility characteristics

 Public facility

0.6

0.5

0.0

0.1

 Number of physicians

68.5

103.7

1.4

0.8

 Number of sickbeds

331.7

238.5

11.9

5.7

 Opening outside hours on weekdays

0.1

0.3

0.3

0.4

 Opening on holidays

0.4

0.5

1.0

0.2

Aggregated variables

 Women’s average age for first marriage^a

28.0

1.0

28.0

1.0

 Child mortality rate^a

0.7

0.2

0.7

0.2

 Obstetricians and gynecologists density^b

41.8

6.6

41.3

6.7

 The youth population (thousand people)^c

602.5

444.2

608.0

428.1

 The amount of lump-sum birth allowance (10 thousand yen, 2010 price)^d

34.4

6.1

34.2

6.1

 Prefectural real GDP (billion yen, 2010 price)^e

2.1

2.5

2.0

2.3

 The number of yearly medical malpractice lawsuits (previous year)^f

895.7

122.0

897.7

122.6

Number of observations (medical malpractice lawsuits)

9874 (8156)

13,631 (11,311)

Number of facilities (medical malpractice lawsuits)

1958 (1882)

2909 (2814)