The Incidental Economist

The Incidental Economist is a blog focused on health economics and policy. It was founded in 2009 by Austin Frakt, a health economist at Boston University, 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,^[1] Kevin Drum,^[2] Jonathan Cohn^[3] and Andrew Sullivan,^[4][5] who were covering the health care reform process that would eventually culminate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The blog remains one of the most widely-cited health policy blogs on the Internet.^[6]

Regular contributors

• Austin Frakt (founder, co-Editor-in-Chief): health economist at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, associate professor at Boston University, contributor to The New York Times' The Upshot^[7]
• Aaron Carroll (co-Editor-in-Chief): professor of pediatrics and dean for research mentoring at Indiana University School of Medicine, contributor to The New York Times' The Upshot^[8]
• Adrianna McIntyre (Managing Editor): Ph.D student at Harvard University 2016^[9] MPH/MPP dual-degree graduate at the University of Michigan^[10]
• Kevin Outterson: associate professor of law and public health at Boston University^[11]
• Harold Pollack: professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago^[12]
• Bill Gardner: child psychologist and health services researcher at Dalhousie University and The Ohio State University^[13]
• Nicholas Bagley: assistant professor of law at the University of Michigan^[14]

References

1. E.g. Klein, E. (2009). Letters to health-care Santa: Bring the market to Medicare Advantage, and the House's employer mandate to the final bill. The Washington Post. December 22.
2. E.g. Drum, K. (2010). Is health insurance good for you? Mother Jones. February 15.
3. E.g. Cohn, J. (2010). Give me insurance or give me death. The New Republic. February 16.
4. E.g. Sullivan, A. (2010). Pass. The. Damn. Bill. The Atlantic. February 1.
5. See the blog's Selected Citations page for additional citations of note.
6. Levins, Hoag (March 21, 2014). "Austin Frakt to Write for New York Times". Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 24, 2014.
7. About Austin
8. About Aaron
9. https://twitter.com/onceuponA
10. About Adrianna
11. About Kevin
12. About Harold
13. About Bill
14. About Nicholas

External links

• The Incidental Economist