Emily Oster
Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence and Professor of Economics
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.
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.
"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).
MPA 2460 Economics for Public Policy
Econ 018D
Econ 2360
September 9, 2022 The Boston Globe
Professor of Economics Emily Oster explains to The Boston Globe, that that no amount of training or investment in virtual education would make it an adequate replacement for an in-person classroom.
July 26, 2022 TIME
Professor of Economics, Emily Oster discusses how she uses her knowledge of health data to help parents think through decisions in interview with TIME.
July 8, 2022 Financial Times
In an interview with Financial Times, Professor of Economics Emily Oster explains how data can help us to raise children, and why writing about her pregnancy was seen as "weird."
July 4, 2022 The New York Times
Professor of economics, Emily Oster discusses the risks and complications associated with pregnancy for The New York Times.
June 1, 2022 Jewish World Review
Emily Oster writes for Jewish World Review, "This advice is well-meaning, but it can become yet another for parents to feel like we're failing."
May 24, 2022 Brown University
Professor of Economics Emily Oster received the distinction in Time Magazine for her work in translating data into simple, rational guidance for parents worldwide.
May 17, 2022 The Atlantic
Emily Oster writes in The Atlantic, "How parents should, and should not, manage the shortage".
1 p.m. – 2 p.m. Watch on Watson's YouTube channel.