Sean Nicholson

Information
Biography
Biographical Statement

Web Bio

Sean is a professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) at Cornell University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. 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.
Department Website Summary

Sean is an associate professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM) at Cornell University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining the PAM Department in 2004, Sean was a faculty member in the Health Care Systems Department at The Wharton School.
Professional
Current Professional Activities

He is currently a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Research Director of the Upstate Health Research Network.
Research
Current Research Activities

Sean is currently conducting research in four areas: the value of new medical technologies; the benefits of physician specialization; the effect of financial incentives on physicians' treatment decisions; and the causes of autism. Specific research projects include: estimating a quality-adjusted price index for colon, breast, and lung cancer drugs in the United States; determining why the US spends more on cancer treatment than Europe and whether the additional spending is worth it; examining whether physicians' cancer treatment decisions depend on the profits they make when administering chemotherapy; and analyzing whether group practices foster physician specialization and whether patients benefit from specialization.

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Education
Education
PhD 1997 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Economics MS 1995 - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Economics BA 1986 - Dartmouth College, Economics
Courses
Courses Taught
PAM 2350, The US Health Care System PAM 3110: Pharmaceutical Management and Policy PAM 5630, Health Care Financial Management II PAM 5640, Healthcare Resource Management and Quality Improvement
Websites
Related Websites
Advice for President Obama: An Economics Panel Discussion Cornell economists offer reaction to the government's recent economic activity. This session was held on Feb. 19, 2009 at Kennedy Hall and was sponsored by the Institute for the Advancement of Economics at Cornell (IAEC).
Administration
Administrative Responsibilities
Member of IAEC committee. Acting director of Sloan program, fall 2011. Member of Sloan curriculum committee.
Publications
Selected Publications
Nicholson, Sean, and Carol Propper, 2012, “Medical Workforce,” in Handbook of Health Economics, Volume 2, edited by Mark Pauly, Thomas McGuire, and Pedro Pito Barros. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pages 873-925.
Morra, Dante, Sean Nicholson, Wendy Levinson, David N. Gans, Terry Hammons, and Larry P. Casalino, 2011, “US Physician Practices Spend Nearly Four Times as Much Money Interacting with Health Plans and Payors Than Do Their Canadian Counterparts,” Health Affairs 30(8): 1443-1450.

Epstein, Andrew J., Jonathan Ketcham, and Sean Nicholson, 2010, “Specialization and Matching in Professional Services Firms,” RAND Journal of Economics 41(4): 812-835.
Epstein, Andrew J., and Sean Nicholson, 2009, “The Formation and Evolution of Physician Treatment Styles: An Application to Caesarean Sections,” Journal of Health Economics 28: 1126-1140.[p a p e r]
Asch, David A., Sean Nicholson, Sindhu Srinivas, Jeph Herrin, and Andrew J. Epstein, 2009, “Evaluating Obstetrical Residency Programs Using Patient Outcomes,” Journal of the American Medical Association 302(12): 1277-1283. [ p a p e r]
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. [a b s t r a c t] [p a p e r]
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. [a b s t r a c t]
Arcidiacono, Peter and Sean Nicholson, 2005, "Peer Effects in Medical Schools," Journal of Public Economics 89(2): 327-350. [a b s t r a c t]
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]