I am an Assistant Professor of Economics at McMaster University. I am also affiliated with the US Veterans Affairs Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Princeton University in 2020-21 after receiving my PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 2020 and my BSc from UBC.

My research fields span health economics and public finance. I study the impacts of physician behavior, health policies, and safety net programs on well-being. Thematically, I am particularly interested in the areas of mental health and substance use.

Starting July 2024, I will be joining Duke University, Sanford School of Public Policy.

Working Papers
Lives vs. Livelihoods: The Impact of the Great Recession on Mortality and Welfare (with Amy Finkelstein, Matthew Notowidigdo, and Frank Schilbach). January 2024 [NBER WP #32110], Revisions Requested, Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Invisible Wounds: Health and Well-Being Impacts of Mental Disorder Disability Compensation on Veterans (with David Silver), September 2023 [NBER WP #29877], Revisions Requested, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy..

Can Educational Outreach Improve Experts’ Decision Making? Evidence from a National Opioid Academic Detailing Program, August 2023, Revisions Requested, Review of Economics and Statistics.

Sliding into Safety Net Participation: A Unified Analysis Across Multiple Programs (with Derek Wu), October 2023, Reject and Resubmit, National Tax Journal.

Intergenerational Mobility of Immigrants by Refugee Status: An Analysis of Linked Landing Files and Tax Records (with Wifag Adnan and Angela Zheng), March 2024.

Publications
Economics:
Socioeconomic Status and Access to Mental Health Care: The Case of Psychiatric Medications for Children in Ontario Canada, Journal of Health Economics, 2024 (with Janet Currie and Paul Kurdyak) [NBER WP #30595].

Doing More with Less: Predicting Primary Care Provider Effectiveness, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2023 (with Janet Currie) [NBER WP #28929].

Primary Care Providers’ Influence on Opioid Use and Its Adverse Consequences, Journal of Public Economics, 2023 (with Sarah Eichmeyer).

Pathways into Opioid Dependence: Evidence from Practice Variation in Emergency Departments, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2022 (with Sarah Eichmeyer).

Hospital Avoidance and Unintended Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic, American Journal of Health Economics, 2021.

Consolidation of Primary Care Physicians and Its Impact on Healthcare Utilization, Health Economics, 2021 (with Yiwei Chen, Liran Einav, Jonathan Levin, and Jay Bhattacharya).

What to Expect When You Are Expecting: Are Health Care Consumers Forward-Looking?, Journal of Health Economics, 2019 (with Audrey Guo).


Health Policy:
Prescribing of Opioid Analgesics and Buprenorphine for Opioid Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic, JAMA Network Open, 2021 (with Janet Currie, Molly Schnell, and Hannes Schwandt)

Trends in Overdose Mortality in Ohio During the First 7 Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic, JAMA Network Open, 2021 (with Janet Currie, Molly Schnell, and Hannes Schwandt)

Mental Health Treatment and the Role of Tele-Mental Health at the Veterans Health Administration During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Psychological Services, 2021 (with Matt Boden and Jodie Trafton)