Ian McCarthy
Associate Professor of Economics, Emory University
Research Associate, NBER
I'm a health economist studying how information problems shape the way health care is priced, delivered, and financed. My work combines large administrative datasets, causal inference methods, and economic theory to examine hospital pricing, insurance design, health care quality, and access. I currently serve as Associate Editor at the American Journal of Health Economics and the Southern Economic Journal, and I was a Visiting Scholar at the Congressional Budget Office from 2021 to 2023. Before academia, I spent several years in economic consulting and health system administration, which informs how I approach these questions. I also teach health economics and empirical methods at Emory, with all course materials freely available online.
Research
Health care pricing, hospital competition, vertical integration, and insurance markets. I use large administrative datasets and quasi-experimental methods.
See papers →Teaching
Undergraduate and PhD courses in health economics and empirical methods at Emory. All course materials are open access.
See courses →Resources
Data sources, methods references, useful packages, and advice for students and early-career researchers.
See resources →Site design inspired by Andrew Heiss, Hira Javed, and Roberta Valtorta. Song and coffee pairings inspired by Josh Graff Zivin's cocktail pairings. Built with Quarto and Claude Code.