The Incidental Economist is a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

focused on health economics and

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

. It was founded in 2009 by Austin Frakt, a health economist at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, who has since been joined by Aaron Carroll, a pediatrician at Indiana University School of Medicine, as co-Editor-in-Chief. The site features posts by the two as well as a number of contributing writers, who are primarily academics based across the United States. The authors often synthesize academic literature as it might relate to contemporary health policy issues. The blog gained prominence in 2009–10 when it was often cited by journalists, such as Ezra Klein,

Kevin Drum Kevin Drum (born October 19, 1958) is an American journalist. Drum initially rose to prominence through the popularity of his independent blog ''Calpundit'' (2003–2004). He later was invited to launch a blog, ''Political Animal'' (2004–2008) ...

, Jonathan Cohn and

Andrew Sullivan Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-American author, editor, and blogger. Sullivan is a political commentator, a former editor of ''The New Republic'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog, ' ...

, who were covering the

health care reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector insur ...

process that would eventually culminate in the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...

. The blog remains one of the most widely cited health policy blogs on the Internet.

Regular contributors

* Austin Frakt (founder, co-Editor-in-Chief): health economist at the

United States Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

, associate professor at

, contributor to

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

' ''The Upshot'' * Aaron Carroll (co-Editor-in-Chief): professor of pediatrics and dean for research mentoring at Indiana University School of Medicine, contributor to

' ''The Upshot'' * Adrianna McIntyre (Managing Editor): Ph.D student at Harvard University 2016 MPH/ MPP dual-degree graduate at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Kevin Outterson use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

: Professor of law and public health at

* Harold Pollack: professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

* Bill Gardner: child psychologist, professor of epidemiology, chair of child and adolescent psychiatry, and health services researcher at the University of Ottawa * Nicholas Bagley: professor of law at the

About Nicholas
/ref>

References

External links

The Incidental Economist
American health websites Economics websites Internet properties established in 2009 Health economics {{Website-stub