Sean Nicholson
Prof Assoc
2008
PAMWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities
He is currently a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Current Research Activities
Sean is currently conducting research in four areas: the value of new medical technologies; how physicians develop their 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 an environmental trigger for autism; the effect of financing “windows” on biotech drug development; estimating a quality-adjusted price index for colon, breast, and lung cancer drugs in the United States and Europe; examining whether physicians’ treatment decisions are influenced by where they train and how their peers treat patients; 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: the value of new medical technologies; how physicians develop their 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, breast, and lung cancer drugs in the United States and Europe; examining whether physicians’ treatment decisions are influenced by where they train and how their peers treat patients; 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 4350, The US Health Care System
PAM 5630, Health Care Financial Management II
PAM 5640, Healthcare Resource Management and Quality Improvement
Selected Publications
Waldman, Michael, Sean Nicholson, Nodir Adilov, and John Williams, 2008, "Autism Prevalence and Precipitation Rates in California, Oregon, and Washington Counties," Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 162(11): 1026-1034. [abstract] [paper]
Pauly, Mark V., Sean Nicholson, Daniel Polsky, Marc L. Berger, and Claire Sharda, 2008, "Valuing Reductions in On-the-Job Illness: 'Presenteeism' from Managerial and Economic Perspectives," Health Economics 17(4): 469-485. [abstract]
Asch, David A., Andrew Epstein, and Sean Nicholson, 2007, "Evaluating Medical Training Programs by the Quality of Care Delivered by Their Alumni," Journal of the American Medical Association 289(9): 1049-1051. [abstract] [paper]
Danzon, Patricia M., Andrew Epstein, and Sean Nicholson, 2007, "Mergers and Acquisitions in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industries," Managerial and Decision Economics 28: 307-328. [abstract]
Arcidiacono, Peter and Sean Nicholson, 2005, "Peer Effects in Medical Schools," Journal of Public Economics 89(2): 327-350. [abstract]
Nicholson, Sean, Patricia M. Danzon, and Jeffrey McCullough, 2005, "Biotech-Pharmaceutical Alliances as a Signal of Asset and Firm Quality," Journal of Business 78(4): 1433-1464. [article]