About
More than anything else, the unifying theme of this blog is thoughtful consideration of important ideas. Blog authors write on topics of interest that they know well. These are often related to their avocations though include other topics as well. As such, there is and will be much content on economics, health policy, and the law (all related to authors’ professions), but also personal finance, information technology, parenthood, politics, among other things (all of personal interest to one or another contributor).
Count on this: we think before we write, and we write what we know. Few if any posts at The Incidental Economist are idle speculation or shallow observations.
The blog’s title, “The Incidental Economist,” was Austin Frakt’s pseudonym when he blogged anonymously on The Finance Buff (March-June 2009). Austin is a professional economist, but this is not an essential fact, and he prefers to be judged not for his title but for his work. An economist yes, but only incidentally so.
The name remains though the blog now has multiple authors. To date, the blog’s regular contributors include Austin Frakt, Ian Crosby, and Steve Pizer.
Austin Frakt. Austin is the creator, manager, host, and primary author of The Incidental Economist. He is a health economist with an educational background in physics and engineering. After receiving his PhD in statistical and applied mathematics he spent four years at a research and consulting firm conducting policy evaluations for federal health agencies. Austin now has a joint appointment with the Department of Health Policy and Management at Boston University’s (BU’s) School of Public Health and Health Care Financing & Economics (HCFE) at the Boston VA Healthcare System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He studies economic issues pertaining U.S. health care policy with a recent but not exclusive focus on Medicare and the uninsured. He has authored over a dozen peer-reviewed scholarly publications, many relevant to health care financing, economics, and policy.
Austin’s interests include economics and health care, of course, but also politics, personal finance, and the amusements of family life. Outside of his principal work duties, he manages his household’s finances, is CFO of a small business, and looks after his two children.
(The views expressed in Austin’s posts are his own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Department of Veterans Affairs or Boston University.)
Ian Crosby. Ian is a partner at the Seattle-based law firm Susman Godfrey LLP, whose practice has focused on antitrust and patent matters. Before joining Susman Godfrey, Ian served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert Boochever on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1999 to 2000, and to the Honorable John C. Coughenour, then Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, in 1998 and 1999. He is the author of “Worlds in Stone: Gadamer, Heidegger, and Constitutional Originalism,” 75 Tex. L. Rev. 849 (1998); and “Portland’s Asset Forfeiture Program: The Effectiveness of Vehicle Seizure in Reducing Rearrest Among ‘Problem’ Drunk Drivers,” in Policing in Eastern and Central Europe: Comparing Firsthand Knowledge With Experience of the West (Milan Pagon ed. 1996). Washington Law & Politics Magazine selected Ian as a “Rising Star” each year since 2003.
Steve Pizer. Steve is a health economist with a background in politics and public policy. Prior to his graduate training in economics, he directed the Massachusetts affiliate of a national consumer and environmental organization. He also served as committee staff to the Senate Human Services Committee in the Massachusetts legislature. After receiving his PhD he spent four years at a research firm mostly dedicated to conducting Medicare program evaluations. Steve now has a joint appointment with the Department of Health Policy and Management at Boston University’s (BU’s) School of Public Health and Health Care Financing & Economics (HCFE) at the Boston VA Healthcare System, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He has authored over twenty peer-reviewed scholarly publications, mostly focusing on U.S. health care financing, economics, and policy.
Steve’s other interests include electoral politics, the econometrics of observational studies, and the effectiveness of medical treatments. Outside the formal labor market, he and his wife try to raise and educate two children, assist their parents, and participate in their humanistic congregation.
(The views expressed in Steve’s posts are his own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Department of Veterans Affairs or Boston University.)
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