Professor Emily Oster
Emily Oster is a Professor of Economics at Brown University and the author of Expecting Better, Cribsheet and The Family Firm. She holds a PhD in Economics from Harvard. Prior to being at Brown she was on the faculty at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Oster’s academic work focuses on health economics and statistical methods. She is interested in understanding why consumers do not always make “rational” health choices — why do people not eat a fully healthy diet, or pursue all recommended preventative health behaviors? Her work also concerns methods for learning causal effects from observational data.
Emily's books take a data-driven perspective on pregnancy and parenting.
The Family Firm: A Data-Driven Guide To Better Decision Making In The Early School Years
'In The Family Firm, Brown professor of economics and mom of two Emily Oster offers a classic business school framework for data-driven parents to think more deliberately about the key issues of the elementary years: school, health, extracurricular activities, and more.'
Expecting Better: Why The Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong–And What You Really Need To Know
'What to Expect When You’re Expecting meets Freakonomics: an award-winning economist disproves standard recommendations about pregnancy to empower women while they’re expecting.'
CRIBSHEET A Data-Driven Guide To Better, More Relaxed Parenting, From Birth To Preschool
'Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn’t always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they’re ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren’t necessarily geniuses), and many other topics.'
[Image credit: EmilyOster.net via Rachel Hulin]