Amy Nadya Finkelstein (born November 2, 1973) is a professor of
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT), the co-director and research associate of the Public Economics Program at the
National Bureau of Economic Research
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...
, and the co-Scientific Director of
J-PAL North America. She was awarded the 2012
John Bates Clark Medal
The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." The award is named after the ...
for her contributions to economics.
She was elected to the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
and won a
MacArthur "Genius" fellowship in 2018.
Education
Finkelstein studied government at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, where she was a
Truman Scholar
The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for public service leadership. It is a federally funded scholarship granted to U.S. undergraduate students for demonstrated leadership potential, academic ...
and received an
AB summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
in 1995. At Harvard, her interest in economics was inspired in part by taking economist
Lawrence Katz's course "Social Problems in the American Economy".
She was a
Marshall Scholar
The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...
at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, where she received an
M.Phil.
The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil ...
in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
in 1997. She received her
PhD in economics from MIT in 2001 under supervision of
James M. Poterba
James Michael "Jim" Poterba, FBA (born July 13, 1958) is an American economist, Mitsui Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and current NBER president and chief executive officer.
Early years
Poterba was born in N ...
and
Jonathan Gruber.
[Finkelstein, Amy (2001), ]
Adverse selection and government intervention in life and health insurance markets
'. Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Career
Finkelstein was a Junior Fellow at the
Harvard Society of Fellows
The Society of Fellows is a group of scholars selected at the beginnings of their careers by Harvard University for their potential to advance academic wisdom, upon whom are bestowed distinctive opportunities to foster their individual and intell ...
for three years, after which she joined the MIT faculty in 2005
and received tenure within three years.
In 2016, MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences named Finkelstein the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor for a five-year term.
The professorship was established with a gift by Edmund MacDonald, and recognizes Finkelstein's outstanding achievements in the field of economics.
Research
Finkelstein's primary expertise is in
public finance
Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achie ...
and
health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in determining how to improv ...
, focusing particularly on
health insurance
Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...
.
She conducts research into
market failure
In neoclassical economics, market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services by a free market is not Pareto efficient, often leading to a net loss of economic value. Market failures can be viewed as scenarios where indiv ...
s and
government intervention
Economic interventionism, sometimes also called state interventionism, is an economic policy position favouring government intervention in the market process with the intention of correcting market failures and promoting the general welfare of ...
in
insurance
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...
markets, and the impact of
public policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
on health care and health insurance. Together with
Katherine Baicker
Katherine Baicker (born May 23, 1971) is an American health economist best known for the Oregon Medicaid health experiment. She serves as the dean of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
Biography
Baicker received her B.A. ...
, she is one of two principal investigators of the
Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, a randomized evaluation of the impact of expanding Medicaid to low-income adults. Her research has shown that newly enrolled Medicaid patients make more trips overall to providers after acquiring insurance, make more visits to emergency rooms, and benefit financially from having insurance, among other findings.
Finkelstein said that the body of research, including her work on the effects of the 2008 Medicaid expansion in Oregon, have made her confident that health insurance improves health.
Awards
In 2008, Finkelstein was awarded the
Elaine Bennett Research Prize by the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP), for her contributions to the economics profession. In 2012, she was awarded the
John Bates Clark Medal
The John Bates Clark Medal is awarded by the American Economic Association to "that American economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge." The award is named after the ...
from the
American Economic Association
The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals acknowledged in business and academia. There are some 23,000 members.
History and Constitution
The AEA was esta ...
. The award cited her research as "a model of how theory and empirics can be combined in creative ways".
In 2018, Finkelstein received a
MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
Personal life
Finkelstein is married to MIT economist
Benjamin Olken.
Select publications
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References
External links
MIT Department of Economics: Amy FinkelsteinNBER: Amy FinkelsteinAbdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL): Amy Finkelstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finkelstein, Amy
1973 births
Alumni of the University of Oxford
21st-century American economists
20th-century American Jews
American women economists
Health economists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Harvard College alumni
Living people
MacArthur Fellows
Marshall Scholars
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni
MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty
Fellows of the Econometric Society
Members of the National Academy of Medicine
21st-century American Jews
20th-century American women
21st-century American women