Sean Nicholson
Prof Assoc
2007
PAMWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities
Prior to joining the PAM Department in 2004, Sean was an Assistant Professor in the Health Care Systems Department at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Sean was a Research Associate at the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania from 1998 to 2004 and a visiting scholar at the National Board of Medical Examiners in 1999-2000. Sean worked for four years as a management consultant with APM and taught high school for two years before enrolling in graduate school. His research interests include health economics, applied microeconomics, and labor economics.
Current Research Activities
Sean is currently conducting research in four areas: innovation in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry; how physicians develop their treatment styles and whether patients choose physicians based on treatment styles; the causes of autism; and measuring the financial benefit to an employer of investing in the health of its workers. Specific research projects include: whether television is a cause of autism; the effect of financing “windows” on biotech drug development; estimating a quality-adjusted price index for colon cancer drugs; examining whether physicians’ treatment decisions are influenced by where they train and how their peers treat patients; the welfare effects of variation in physician treatment styles; and measuring the cost to employers of absences and on-the-job productivity losses due to poor health.
Biography
Biographical Statement
Sean is an associate professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) at Cornell University and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is currently conducting research in four areas: incentives to innovate in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry; how physicians develop their treatment styles and whether patients choose physicians based on their preferences for treatment styles; measuring the financial benefit to an employer of investing in the health of its workers; and the causes of autism. Specific research projects include: the effect of financing constraints on biotech and pharmaceutical drug development; estimating a quality-adjusted price index for colon cancer drugs; examining whether physicians’ treatment decisions are influenced by where they train and how their peers treat patients; the welfare effects of variation in physician treatment styles; and measuring the cost to employers of absences and on-the-job productivity losses due to poor health. Prior to joining the PAM Department in 2004, Sean was a faculty member in the Health Care Systems Department at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Sean worked for four years as a management consultant with APM and taught high school for two years before enrolling in graduate school. He received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1986 and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1997.
Education
PhD 1997 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Economics
MS 1995 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Economics
BA 1986 - Dartmouth College, Economics
Administrative Responsibilities
Search committee chair.
PAM seminar organizer.
Member of Sloan curriculum committee.
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Courses Taught
PAM 562, Health Care Financial Management I
PAM 563, Health Care Financial Management II
PAM 564, Information Resources Management in Health Organizations
Related Websites
Publications
Nicholson, S. (2005)., “How Much Do Medical Students Know About Physician Income?” Journal of Human Resources 40(1): 100-114.
Arcidiacono, P. and Nicholson, S. (2005), “Peer Effects in Medical Schools,” Journal of Public Economics 89(2): 327-350.
Nicholson, S., Danzon, P.M., and McCullough, J.(2005), “Biotech-Pharmaceutical Alliances as a Signal of Asset and Firm Quality,”Journal of Business 78(4): 1433-1464.
Danzon, P.M., Nicholson, S. and Sousa Pereira, N. (2005). “Productivity in Biotech-Pharmaceutical R&D: The Role of Experience and Alliances,” Journal of Health Economics, 24(2): 317- 339.
Nicholson, S. "Physician Specialty Choice Under Uncertainty". (2002). Journal of Labor Economics, 20(4): 816-847.