World Cup final preview:

Based on current ToC and chatter, I have come up with the perfect storm #healthservices #research paper: How does TM vs. MA differ on racial disparities in access to GLP-1RA in urban v. rural areas? See you guys in the top medical journals!

Today is the 250th anniversary of Boston’s mass inoculation against smallpox on July 3, 1776. The city was effectively closed to commerce from July through September 1776. The mass immunization effort was cheered as evidence of true independence. Here's how I described it in my book:

Try this when you can't come up with a good justification for your identification strategy...

Bob Blendon, Harvard health policy expert and pollster, has died. via @joycefr.bsky.social #Medsky #politics #healthpolicy #healthlaw #Medicare #Medicaid

Congratulations to @rachelwerner.bsky.social (@pennldi.bsky.social), Eric Roberts (@penndgim.bsky.social) & @jnwadiuko.bsky.social (Hospital Med), recipients of top 2026 @societygim.bsky.social Awards in recognition of their health services research! tinyurl.com/rbnxjmk8

I was just elected to the Council of the University Senate for a three year term. My first legislative proposal will be to charge any University of Chicago faculty member a $3000 fee for any peer-review publication that conflates odds ratios with relative risk

I will need to change mine from "IHateOddsRatios". Thanks for the reminder.

I told you “ILoveOddsRatios” was too obvious a password

Alex Cora is the first manager to get fired after winning a game by 16+ runs since the New York Metropolitans fired Bob Ferguson following an 18-2 win over the Cleveland Spiders in the second game of a DH on May 30, 1887.

All of my students over the past decade can now remove hundreds of marked-up comments I have made on their papers.

President’s Invited Lecture at #SES2026 🎓 @scoteconsociety.bsky.social We’re delighted to welcome Jeffrey Wooldridge to deliver the Scottish Economic Society President’s Invited Lecture 2026. "Simple, Flexible Strategies for Estimating Causal Effects with Staggered Interventions" #EconSky

Congratulations to Paula Lantz, my forever-advisor, mentor, collaborator, and friend. fordschool.umich.edu/news/2026/la...

I showed this graph in class yesterday on how measles cases in the United States plummeted dramatically after the vaccine was licensed in 1963. It’s not subtle and I could not resist observing: “This stunning design in measles cases was not thanks to vitamin A. It was not due to beef tallow.”

"Frog," said Toad, "what if there was more to economics than diff-in-diffs?"

Congratulations

First edition published 250 years ago today

New paper out with Amanda Starc on competition in health insurance markets, in particular on the complicated ways in which asymmetric information and competition interact (spoiler: things aren’t going so well). www.nber.org/papers/w34928

🎉Introducing Dr. David Powell as a new Senior Fellow at Penn LDI! Dr. Powell is a health economist with research on the opioid crisis, population aging, working conditions, and end-of-life care. Learn more about his work: https://ldi.upenn.edu/fellows/fellows-directory/david-powell-phd

Congrats to Dr. Harsha Thirumurthy (@hthirumurthy.bsky.social) on being named CHIBE's inaugural endowed chair! chibe.upenn.edu/news/dr-hars...

This is really good- Luigi and his colleagues are both excellent economists and real health scholars who do important, useful, work every day. It shows in this book.

Stuart H. Altman, Ph.D., internationally recognized leader in health policy and economics, beloved teacher, loving patriarch, and inaugural chair of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), passed away on January 1, 2026. “Our country has lost a legend.” masshpc.gov/news/press-r...

We mourn the loss of Stuart H. Altman, Ph.D., a leader in health policy and economics and the inaugural chair of the HPC. “Dr. Altman dedicated his life to a health care system that is affordable and accessible for all,” said HPC Executive Director David Seltz.

Long-term care needs are rising—but federal policy isn’t keeping pace. A new brief from Penn LDI, drawing on research by Allison K. Hoffman, Rachel Werner, and Tamara Konetzka, explores today’s LTC challenges and opportunities for reform. https://penncareylaw.news/4aPHvcw

In case anyone is interested, here is my latest contribution to DiD. In this case, nonlinear models with repeated cross sections. A (short) paper will be ready soon. It's nothing path breaking but shows the obvious extensions from the panel data case works. www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/lne2y...

TWFE is not perfect, of course. But when selection is largely based on time-constant unobservables, it can still be very effective. We have to use a flexible enough model, but that’s on us — not on the estimator. We can allow lots of heterogeneity. Plus, we sometimes can combine with IV.

Tragic death of John Leahy. An amazing economist, wonderful adviser, consistently modest and kind, he will be greatly missed. May his memory be a blessing.

The Economics Department at @Princeton is saddened to share the news of Professor Kate Ho's passing. Professor Ho was an exemplary teacher, researcher, adviser, colleague, and friend. She will be dearly missed. https://bit.ly/497s4Lw

My boss is very fast.

It was a pleasure attending the #AHEW at @umich.edu this year. It was a great opportunity to get in-depth exposure to cutting edge econometric work. Special thanks to @edwardnorton.bsky.social, #NickPapaGeorge, & many others for organizing & hosting a great workshop.

6. and @johnmullahy.bsky.social and @edwardnorton.bsky.social, recipients of the Willard G. Manning Memorial Award (health econometrics research) www.ashecon.org/activities/n... 6/7

📈 Once niche, health economics is now central to the field. A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research. Health is shaping the future of economics.

It is with great sadness that I learned today of the passing of my friend, mentor, and co-author Dr. Allen Goodman. Allen was an exceptional mentor and was kind, thoughtful, and supportive. I am passing his legacy on, teach the next generation of health economists.

Today's date, 7/24/25, is a Pythagorean triple. The next one will be next century: on 2103/04/05.

The Int’l Health Econ Assn (IHEA) is searching for a health economics researcher to serve as its next Exec Director healtheconomics.org/job-advertisem…

Need something to distract you from the news? Try my interactive map of @umich.edu medical history! michmed.org/NYAyW (Click the pins to see and read about each building) Read more about how we went from one building on the Diag to today's Michigan Medicine: michmed.org/vQ5eZ #medhist #histmed

Last week 7 leading journals (including Health Economics) distributed a joint statement on editorial independence and academic freedom. Today, IHEA (the International Health Economics Association) joins our statement in solidarity. See their endorsement on the IHEA homepage: healtheconomics.org

Thank you to IHEA for joining with the health economics journal editorial boards in defending academic freedom and editorial independence. The IHEA May Newsletter has both their endorsement and our original statement: healtheconomics.org/wp-content/u...

The Editorial Board of Health Economics is very pleased to congratulate one of our own, Prof. Bruce Hollingsworth, on being appointed a Founding Fellow of the Royal Economic Society. This is a high and well-deserved honour! Read all about it here: www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/oyal-ec...

A direct link to this statement can be found below. Please distribute this widely so that all of our colleagues in the discipline can see that their work is valued and that we will not collaborate with, or tolerate, political coercion. sites.google.com/view/joint-s...

The Editorial Boards of leading health economics journals are issuing a Joint Statement of Principles on Editorial Independence. In these troubled times some scholars worry their work might suffer ideological attack. We reaffirm our commitment to unfettered scholarship. Please repost.

Correction: Hainmueller and Yiqing Xu (2013) in JSS.

Original paper by Hainmueller (2012) in Political Analysis. See also Hainmueller and Yu (2013) in J Statistical Software. Nick Huntinton-Klein has examples in book "The Effect". Stata has software: ebalance.

Use entropy balancing.

Well these are the most appropriate and reasonable award winners in the history of award winners. Congrats! @johnmullahy.bsky.social @edwardnorton.bsky.social

Congratulations @johnmullahy.bsky.social & @edwardnorton.bsky.social 🎉🎉🎉!!! Very well deserved!

Does having #healthinsurance actually improve health and reduce mortality? Two of our members have done an exhaustive review of the literature & published it in the @qjeharvard.bsky.social. In a nutshell, their conclusion: Yes. Read the full paper: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... #econsky

A gut punch reminder. Thank you Will, and thank you John for reminding us.

Honored to share this award with John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social and to remember the great contributions of Will Manning to health econometrics.