Emily Oster

Emily Oster is a professor of economics. Prior to coming to Brown she was an associate professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research. She earned her BA and her PhD from Harvard, in 2002 and 2006, respectively.

Research

Emily Oster’s research focuses on health and development economics. Her past work has covered issues of HIV and gender equality in health and survival. Her current work focuses on how individuals seek out, and react to, health information. She has several recent papers on Huntington Disease, a degenerative neurological disorder. In this context she explores health information-seeking and asks why individuals in the at-risk population seem resistant to informative genetic information about this disease. She uses a similar population to test whether knowledge of limited life expectancy affects incentives to invest in education and job training.

Oster’s current work covers infant mortality – exploring why the US has very high infant mortality rates relative to other developed countries – and diet behavior among diabetics.

Publications

"Weighting for External Validity" (with Isaiah Andrews). The National Bureau of Economic Research. (September 2017). doi: 10.3386/w23826

“Approaches and Costs for Sharing Clinical Research Data” (with Erin Wilhelm and Ira Shoulson). JAMA (Viewpoint, Feb 20, 2014).

“Limited Life Expectancy, Human Capital and Health Investments” (with E. Ray Dorsey and Ira Shoulson). American Economic Review, 103 (5): p. 1977-2002 (August 2013).

“Optimal Expectations and Limited Medical Testing: Evidence from Huntington's Disease” (with E. Ray Dorsey and Ira Shoulson). American Economic Review, 103 (2): p. 804-830 (April 2013).

“Do IT Service Centers Promote School Enrollment? Evidence from India” (with Bryce Millett). Journal of Development Economics, 104: 123-135 (September 2013).

“Knowledge of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act among individuals affected by Huntington disease” (with E. Ray Dorsey et al.). Clinical Genetics, 84: p. 251-257 (September 2013).

“Determinants of Technology Adoption: Private Value and Peer Effects in Menstrual Cup Take-Up” (with Rebecca Thornton). Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(6): p.1263-1293 (December, 2012).

“Routes of Infection: Exports and HIV Incidence in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(5): p. 1025–1058 (October 2012).

Teaching

News|Recent News

Don’t Make Your Own Formula (written by Emily Oster)

May 17, 2022 The Atlantic

Emily Oster writes in The Atlantic, "How parents should, and should not, manage the shortage".

Data that parents collect about their babies has limits (interview with Emily Oster)

April 11, 2022 Washington Post

Emily Oster in the Washington Post, "Sometimes our data is very limited or it’s just very difficult to answer questions — or the answer is kind of different for everybody,"

Now Is as Good a Time as There’ll Ever Be to Leave Your Pandemic Bubble (comments by Emily Oster)

March 4, 2022 The Atlantic

Professor of Economics Emily Oster offered commentary on how parents of young children can navigate relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.

What If TV Isn’t Bad for Us? (Interview with Emily Oster)

January 28, 2022 Freakonomics

Emily Oster discusses her study on the effects of screen time on the Freakonomics podcast.

How Did We Fail So Badly? Ashish Jha and Emily Oster on America's Covid Response

January 24, 2022 New York Times

Emily Oster joins the New York Times' Sway podcast to discuss how America is doing in the fight against Covid-19.

Learning loss far greater for students in districts that went fully remote, new study finds

January 18, 2022 Cincinnati Public Radio

Professor Emily Oster's research is cited, "...economist Emily Oster and her co-authors found that learning loss was far worse in districts that kept classes fully remote, and that declines in reading scores were greater in districts serving predominantly poor and non-white students."

A man wipes down a classroom table with a disinfectant wipe, wearing gloves and a face mask

Teachers union calls for Rhode Island to shift to remote learning due to COVID increase (Emily Oster cited)

January 11, 2022 Providence Journal

This article cites a recent report by Emily Oster which states that learning loss was far worse in districts that kept classes fully remote.

People

Biography