Emily Oster
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COVID-19, School Closures, and Outcomes Open
This article discusses the question of data and our perspective on the importance of public, accessible, and contemporaneous data in the face of public crisis. Then, we present data on the extent of school closures during the COVID-19 pand…
Post COVID-19 Test Score Recovery: Initial Evidence from State Testing Data Open
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption in schooling in the U.S., and student test scores showed dramatic declines by the end of the 2020-21 school year.We use state test score data to analyze patterns of test score recovery ov…
397. Impact of School Opening Model on Cases of SARS-CoV-2 in Surrounding Communities: A Nationwide, Retrospective Cohort Study Open
Background Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, elementary and secondary schools were closed. There was variation in school opening mode (traditional, hybrid, remote) in fall 2020.The aim of this national, retrospective cohort study is to evalu…
Pandemic Schooling Mode and Student Test Scores: Evidence from US States Open
We estimate the impact of district-level schooling mode (in-person versus hybrid or distance learning) on test scores.We combine Spring 2021 state standardized test score data with comprehensive data on schooling in the 2020-21 school year…
Replication Data for: Impact of School Opening on SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Open
This repository includes files to prepare the data for the paper titled as The Impact of School Opening Model on SARS-CoV-2 Community Incidence and Mortality: A Nationwide Cohort Study by Ertem et al.
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 Open
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the United States began transitioning to virtual learning during spring 2020. However, schools' learning modes varied during the 2020-21 school year across states as schools transitioned…
COVID-19 Mitigation Practices and COVID-19 Rates in Schools: Report on Data from Florida, New York and Massachusetts Open
This paper reports on the correlation of mitigation practices with staff and student COVID-19 case rates in Florida, New York, and Massachusetts during the 2020-2021 school year. We analyze data collected by the COVID-19 School Response Da…
Effectiveness of 3 Versus 6 ft of Physical Distancing for Controlling Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Among Primary and Secondary Students and Staff: A Retrospective, Statewide Cohort Study Open
Background National and international guidelines differ about the optimal physical distancing between students for prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission; studies directly comparing the impa…
Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors Open
Consider a case in which a new research finding links a health behavior with good health outcomes. A possible consequence is take-up of this behavior among individuals who engage in other positive health behaviors. If this occurs, later an…
Emily Oster on “Cribsheet” Open
Emily Fair Oster is an American economist and bestselling author of “Expecting Better” and “Cribsheet”. Emily is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Brown University. P. Richard Hahn also joins the show as a guest interviewer. He…
Behavioral Feedback: Do Individual Choices Influence Scientific Results? Open
In many health domains, we are concerned that observed links -for example, between "healthy" behaviors and good outcomes -are driven by selection into behavior.This paper considers the additional factor that these selection patterns may va…
Changes in Household Diet: Determinants and Predictability Open
We use grocery purchase data to analyze dietary changes.We show that households -including those with more income or education -do not improve diet in response to disease diagnosis or changes in household circumstances.We then identify hou…
Replication data for: Diabetes and Diet: Purchasing Behavior Change in Response to Health Information Open
Individuals with obesity and related conditions are often reluctant to change their diet. Evaluating the details of this reluctance is hampered by limited data. I use household scanner data to estimate food purchase response to a diagnosis…
A Simple Approximation for Evaluating External Validity Bias Open
We develop a simple approximation that relates the total external validity bias in randomized trials to (i) bias from selection on observables and (ii) a measure for the role of treatment effect heterogeneity in driving selection into the …
Weighting for External Validity Open
External validity is a fundamental challenge in treatment effect estimation. Even when researchers credibly identify average treatment effects – for example through randomized experiments – the results may not extrapolate to the population…
View article: Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence
Unobservable Selection and Coefficient Stability: Theory and Evidence Open
A common approach to evaluating robustness to omitted variable bias is to observe coefficient movements after inclusion of controls. This is informative only if selection on observables is informative about selection on unobservables. Alth…
Does Disease Cause Vaccination? Disease Outbreaks and Vaccination Response Open
Childhood vaccinations are an important input to disease prevention, but vaccination rates have declined over the last decade due largely to parental fears about vaccine dangers. Education campaigns on the safety of vaccines seem to have l…
Why Is Infant Mortality Higher in the United States than in Europe? Open
The United States has higher infant mortality than peer countries. In this paper, we combine microdata from the United States with similar data from four European countries to investigate this US infant mortality disadvantage. The US disad…
Replication data for: Why Is Infant Mortality Higher in the United States Than in Europe? Open
The United States has higher infant mortality than peer countries. In this paper, we combine microdata from the United States with similar data from four European countries to investigate this US infant mortality disadvantage. The US disad…