Emily Oster Biography
Emily Oster is an American Professor of Economics at Brown University and the author of Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm. She holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard. Prior to being at Brown she was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Emily Oster Age
She was born on 14th February, 1980, New Haven, Connecticut, US
Emily Oster Height
Emily stand at a height of 5 feet and 7 inches tall.
Emily Oster Education
Oster earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard in 2002 and 2006 respectively, Oster taught at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She later moved to Brown University, where she is Professor of Economics.
Emily Oster Nationality
Oster is of American nationality.
Emily Oster Ethnicity
Emily is of White ethnicity.
Emily Oster Parents
She was born to Sharon Oster and Ray Fair. Ray Clarence Fair (born 4th October, 1942) is the John M. Musser Professor of Economics at Yale University. Fair received his B.A. from Fresno State College in 1964 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1968. He spent several years at Princeton University before moving to Yale. He is now a professor within the Cowles Foundation and the International Center for Finance.
Fair’s teaching and research interests include macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and macroeconometric modeling. He is the author, along with Karl Case of Wellesley College, of the economics textbook Principles of Economics. He has also authored several books pertaining to modeling, including Testing Macroeconometric Models (1994) and Estimating How the Macroeconomy Works (2004).
He is noted for his methods for predicting the outcome of U.S. presidential elections, for which his work has been frequently cited. He published Predicting Presidential Elections and Other Things on this subject in 2002. Ray Fair maintains a macroeconomic model, data, software and forecasts on his home page and that are also available for free downloading for use on a personal computer. The Fair Model macroeconomic model forecasts for the United States and 38 other countries. His model predicted a Romney victory in 2012 and Trump in 2016.
Sharon Monica Oster (September 3, 1948 – June 10, 2022) was an American economist. She was the Frederic D. Wolfe Professor Emerita of Management and Entrepreneurship and a dean of Yale School of Management, where she was the first woman to receive tenure, and the first female dean. She was widely known as an economist focusing on business strategy and non-profit organization management.
Emily Oster Siblings
Oster has not disclosed information about her siblings
Emily Oster Husband
Emily is married to her husband; Jesse Shapiro. Jesse M. Shapiro is an American economist and academic. He is the George Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration at Harvard University, having previously held the George S. and Nancy B. Parker Professorship at Brown University. In 2021, Shapiro was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Emily Oster Children
Emily and her husband Jesse have two children together namely; Penelope and Finn, are 10 and 6 respectively.
Emily Oster Economist
Oster’s research focuses generally on development economics and health. In 2005, Oster published a dissertation for her economics Ph.D. from Harvard University, which suggested that the unusually high ratio of men to women in China was partially due to the effects of the hepatitis B virus. “Hepatitis B and the Case of the Missing Women,” pointed to findings that suggested areas with high hepatitis B rates tended to have higher male-to female birth ratios.
Oster argued that the fact that hepatitis B can cause a woman to conceive male children more often than female, accounted for a bulk of the “missing women” in Amartya Sen’s 1990 essay, “More Than 100 Million Women Are Missing.” Oster noted that the use of hepatitis B vaccine in 1982 led to a sharp decline in the male-to-female birth ratio.
Sen’s essay had attributed the “missing women” to societal discrimination against girls and women in the form of the allocation of health, educational, and food resources. In April 2008, Oster released a working paper “Hepatitis B Does Not Explain Male-Biased Sex Ratios in China” in which she evaluated new data, which showed that her original research was incorrect. Freakonomics author Steven Levitt saw this as a sign of integrity.
In a 2007 TED Talk, Oster discussed the spread of HIV in Africa, applying a cost-benefit analysis to the question of why African men have been slow to change their sexual behavior. Oster’s work on television and female empowerment in India was featured in Steve Levitt’s second book, SuperFreakonomics.
Emily Oster Books
Emily has published below books;
1. Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What you Really Need to
Know (Penguin Press, 2013)
2. Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting from Birth to Preschool (Penguin
Press, 2019)
3. The Family Firm: A Data-Driven Guide to Better Decision-Making in the Early School Years (Penguin
Press, 2021)
Oster’s books analyze the data behind choices in pregnancy and parenting. Expecting Better analyzes the data behind many common pregnancy rules, and aims to improve decision making for pregnant women. Cribsheet does the same for early childhood what does the evidence really say on breastfeeding, co-sleeping or potty training.
Finally, The Family Firm takes this approach to parenting in the early school years, looking at data on school, extracurriculars, sleep and also providing a framework to make unexpected decisions and address the logistical challenges of this period of parenting.
Emily Oster Publications
Oster publications:
“ Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from U.S. School Districts” (with
Rebecca Jack, Clare Halloran and James Okun) American Economic Review: Insights, Conditionally
Accepted
“Changes in Household Diet: Determinants and Predictability” (with Stefan Hut)
Journal of Public Economics, 208 (April, 2022)
“Disparities in learning mode access among K–12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic, by
race/ethnicity, geography, and grade level—United States, September 2020–April 2021” (with Rebecca
Jack et al.) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 70.26 (2021): 953.
“Effectiveness of three versus six feet of physical distancing for controlling spread of COVID-19 among
primary and secondary students and staff: A retrospective, state-wide cohort study” (with Polly van den
Berg et al). Clinical infectious diseases: an of icial publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of
America (2021).
“Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors.” American Economic Review: Insights, 2
(2): p.143-160 (June, 2020)
“A simple approximation for evaluating external validity bias” (with Isaiah Andrews). Economics
Letters 178 (2019): 58-62.
“Diabetes and Diet: Purchasing Behavior Response to Health Information.” American Economic
Journal: Applied Economics, 10 (4): p. 308-348 (October, 2018)
“Unobservable selection and coefficient stability: Theory and evidence.” Journal of Business &
Economic Statistics 37.2 (2019): 187-204.
“Does Disease Cause Vaccination? Disease Outbreaks and Vaccination Response,” Journal of
Health Economics, 57 (1): p. 90 -101 (January, 2018)
“Why is Infant Mortality Higher in the US than in Europe” (with Heidi Williams and Alice Chen).
American Economic Journal: Policy (May, 2016)
“Informativeness of Early Huntington Disease Signs about Gene Status” (with E. Ray Dorsey et al).
Journal of Huntington Disease, 4 (3): p. 271-277 (October, 2015)
“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).
“HIV and Sexual Behavior Change: Why Not Africa?” Journal of Health Economics, 31(1):
p.35-49 (January 2012).
“Menstruation, Sanitary Products and School Attendance: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation”
(with Rebecca Thornton). American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(1): 91-100 (January
2011).
“Genetic Adverse Selection in Long Term Care and Life Insurance: Evidence from Huntington
Disease” (with E. Ray Dorsey et al). Journal of Public Economics, 94(11-12): p. 1041-1050
(December 2010).
“Estimating HIV Prevalence and Incidence in Africa from Mortality Data.” BE Journal of Economics
Analysis and Policy: Topics in Economics Analysis, 10(1): Article 80 (September 2010).
“Hepatitis B Does Not Explain Male-Biased Sex Ratios in China” (with Gang Chen et al).
Economics Letters, 107(2): p. 142-144 (May, 2010).
“The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India” (with Robert Jensen).
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124 (3): p. 1057-1094 (August 2009).
“Does Increased Access Increase Equality? Health Investments and Gender Inequality in India.”
Journal of Development Economics,89 (1): p. 62-76 (May, 2009).
“Proximate Sources of Population Sex Imbalance in India.” Demography, 46(2): 325-340 (May, 2009).
“Fear of health insurance loss among individuals at risk for Huntington Disease” (with E. Ray
Dorsey et al). American Journal of Medical Genetics, Part A, 146A: p.2070-2077 (August, 2008).
“Explaining Asia’s ‘Missing Women’: A New Look at the Data – Comment,” Population and
Development Review, 32(2): p. 323-327 (June 2006).
“Hepatitis B and the Case of the Missing Women.” Journal of Political Economy, 113 (6): p.
1163-1216 (December 2005).
“Sexually Transmitted Infections, Sexual Behavior and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic.” Quarterly Journal
of Economics, 120 (2): p. 467-515 (May 2005).
“Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe.” Journal of Economic
Perspectives,
18(1): 215-228 (Winter 2004).
“Are All Lotteries Regressive? Evidence from the Powerball.” National Tax Journal, 57(2): p.179-187
(June 2004)
Emily Oster CV
Professional Experience
Executive Director, COVID-19 School Data Hub 2021-Present
Brown University Department of Economics
Royce Family Professor of Teaching Excellence 2019-Present
Professor of Economics 2016-Present
Associate Professor of Economics (with tenure) 2015-2016
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Associate Professor of Economics 2011-2014
Assistant Professor of Economics 2009-2011
National Bureau of Economic Research
Research Associate 2015-Present
Faculty Research Fellow 2006-2015
University of Chicago Department of Economics
Assistant Professor of Economics 2007-2009
Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory
Becker Fellow 2006-2007
Emily Oster Covid
Oster has emerged as a singular authority on schools, despite her lack of a background in education policy or pandemic response, starts with an information vacuum.
Last spring, when the Covid-19 pandemic sent much of the country into lockdown, school buildings in all 50 states closed their doors, leaving 55 million kids to learn as best they could from their bedrooms and kitchen tables and turning working parents into full-time caregivers and amateur Zoom facilitators.
Unsurprisingly, the subject of reopening schools soon became one of the biggest political minefields of the pandemic. By summer, parents were exhausted — and worried about kids falling behind. Meanwhile, many teachers were wary of going back into classrooms, especially as cases and deaths skyrocketed and front-line workers in other fields protested unsafe conditions in their workplaces.
It soon became clear that, even as President Trump angrily tweeted “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN,” there was little interest at the federal level in studying whether classrooms were actually safe. At one point, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it simply wasn’t her department’s job to collect data on schools. (“I thought that was the whole job,” Oster says, only half-sarcastically.)
Emily Oster newsletter
Oster writes a newsletter called ParentData on data, pregnancy, child rearing and whatever else is on the mind of parents.
Emily Oster Salary
Emily earns an estimated annual salary of USD 100,000.
Emily Oster Net Worth
Her net worth is estimated to be USD 7 million.
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Emily Oster (@profemilyoster)
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