Description

The US and countries around the world are spending a substantial and rising share of income on health care. The care that is delivered today and the innovation available tomorrow are driven by public policy, private investments, and choices made by doctors and patients.  With advances in medical technology, all of those decisions come with increasingly high stakes for population health and for resource allocation.  Economic analysis offers a powerful lens through which to examine these issues.

The Health Economics Initiative brings together scholars from across the UChicago community to support the economic analysis of health policy and systems, including the effectiveness of public and private insurance markets, physician and patient behavior, administrative costs, and implications for labor economics. In an environment of polarized debate about major policy changes to address evolving health challenges, bringing analytically rigorous evidence to bear is crucial for better outcomes. This initiative delivers rigorous and timely research to inform stakeholders as they make tough choices in this vital sector.

Data Assets

Medical claims data is at the core of much of health economics research. The Health Economics Initiative is building data assets to help lower the barriers to research in this area for faculty and students across the university.

In 2018, we made our first purchase of Medicare claims data. The data covers 2010-2019 and includes the MedPAR, outpatient, home health, and master beneficiary summary files for 100% of Medicare beneficiaries. We plan to add additional files and years to increase the value of this data asset.

The data is hosted in a secure environment provided by the Center for Research Informatics (CRI) together with additional resources and procedures developed by the MWG in collaboration with the Research Computing Group (RCG) within the Department of Public Health Sciences.

Research Grants for UChicago Scholars

The Health Economics Initiative regularly initiates a call for proposals to the full Chicago Economics community for innovative research ideas. We are excited to support cutting-edge research from health economists on campus through eight grants to date, and we look forward to seeing the fruits of their efforts.

Robert Kaestner and Dmitri Koustas
Proposed Project Title: The Effect of Access to Health Insurance on Job Mobility, Self-employment and Gig Economy Participation

Joshua Gottlieb
Proposed Project Title: The Wage Distribution in Health Care

Jeff Grogger
Proposed Project Title: The Long-Run Health Implications of Transfer-System Reform

Rebecca Dizon-Ross
Proposed Project Title: Encouraging Abstinence Behavior in an Opioid Epidemic: Incentivizing Inputs and Outcomes

Harold Pollack
Proposed Project Title: Predictive Analytic Models for 911 Events Involving Individuals Experiencing Behavioral Crisis

Devin Pope
Proposed Project Title: Medical Guidelines and Doctor Behavior

Burhaneddin Sandikci
Proposed Project Title: Expanding the Donor Pool for Transplantation: Incentivizing the Use of Marginal Organs

Thomas Wollmann
Proposed Project Title: How to Get away with Merger: Stealth Consolidation and its Effects on US Healthcare 

UChicago Health Policy Data Lab at the Department of Public Health Sciences

The UChicago Health Policy Data Lab at the Department of Public Health Sciences provides resources for UChicago researchers to access and utilize large-scale administrative datasets to inform and improve U.S. health policy. In particular, it makes secure access to Medicare and Medicaid claims data possible. Click here for more information.

Additional Data Resources for UChicago Faculty

Related Programs

This initiative supports two programs exploring distinct strands of health economics.

Associated Scholars

Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Katherine Baicker

Provost of the University of Chicago and Emmett Dedmon Professor, Harris School of Public Policy
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Zarek Brot-Goldberg

Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Rebecca Dizon-Ross

Associate Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Peter Ganong

Assistant Professor, Harris Public Policy
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Joshua Gottlieb

Associate Professor, Harris Public Policy; Co-Director of BFI Health Economics Initiative
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

David Meltzer

Professor of Medicine, and affiliated faculty, Harris Public Policy and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Casey Mulligan

Professor in Economics and the College, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Matthew J. Notowidigdo

David McDaniel Keller Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business; Co-Director of BFI Health Economics Initiative
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Harold Pollack

Helen Ross Professor, School of Social Service Administration
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Devin Pope

Steven G. Rothmeier Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics, Booth School of Business
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Burhaneddin Sandikçi

Associate Professor of Operations Management, Booth School of Business
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Prachi Sanghavi

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Studies
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Brad Shapiro

Professor of Marketing, Booth School of Business
Scholars / UChicago Scholar

Thomas Wollmann

Associate Professor of Economics, Booth School of Business

Associated Working Papers

BFI Working Paper Mar 17, 2023

Market Size and Trade in Medical Services

Jonathan Dingel, Joshua Gottlieb, Maya Lozinski, Pauline Mourot
Topics:  Health care
BFI Working Paper Jan 18, 2023

Rationing Medicine Through Bureaucracy: Authorization Restrictions in Medicare

Zarek Brot-Goldberg, Samantha Burn, Timothy Layton, Boris Vabson
Topics:  Health care
BFI Working Paper Jan 18, 2023

Achieving Universal Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: Addressing Market Failures or Providing a Social Floor?

Katherine Baicker, Amitabh Chandra, Mark Shepard
Topics:  Health care

Associated Insights

Associated News

Media Mention Jan 13, 2021

Should Medicare enrollees be ‘nudged’? New research reveals impact of default insurance plans

UChicago News; Zarek Brot-Goldberg
Topics:  Health care
BFI News Oct 8, 2020

Chicago Booth Professor Matthew J. Notowidigdo Appointed Co-Director of BFI Health Economics Initiative

      The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago (BFI) is pleased to announce that Matthew J. Notowidigdo, Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth,...
Topics:  Health care
BFI News Feb 3, 2020

BFI Awards 16 New Grants In Support of Economics Research

The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) is pleased to announce the award of 16 new grants supporting economics research by University of Chicago faculty and students in a...