Professor
Department of Markets, Public Policy & Law
Questrom School of Business

Boston University
595 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Office phone: (617) 358-2829
e-mail: talgross [at sign] bu.edu

I am a full professor in the Department of Markets, Public Policy & Law at Boston University. I am also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. My research focuses on health insurance and household finance. I received my bachelor’s degree from The University of Chicago and my Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I previously taught at the University of Miami School of Business Administration and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. You can find my curriculum vitae here.

Textbook

“Better Health Economics: An Introduction for Everyone,” with Matthew Notowidigdo. A textbook published by University of Chicago Press. Official Site here. Available on Amazon here. Please contact me if you are an instructor and would like a free copy or resources (slides, exams, handouts) for teaching health economics.

Works In Progress

“Social Defaults and Plan Choice: The Case of Spousal Following,” with Tim Layton, Daniel Prinz, and Julia Yates.

“The Burden of Alzheimer’s Disease: Spousal Spillovers among Elderly Couples in the United States,” with Itzik Fadlon, Alex Hoagland, and Tim Layton.

“Effects of Nursing Home Payment on Patient-Centered Outcomes for Older Adults and People with Dementia,” with Adam Sacarny, Maggie Shi, and David Silver.

Select Publications

“Regulated Revenues and Hospital Behavior: Evidence from a Medicare Overhaul,” with Adam Sacarny, Maggie Shi, and David Silver. Manuscript. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2022. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #29023.
      Non-technical summary available here.

“The Liquidity Sensitivity of Healthcare Consumption: Evidence from Social Security Payments,” with Tim Layton and Daniel Prinz. Manuscript. American Economic Review: Insights, 2022. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #27977.
      Non-technical summaries on The Hill and Harvard Business Review.

The Economic Consequences of Bankruptcy Reform, with Raymond Kluender, Feng Liu, Matthew Notowidigdo, and Jialan Wang. Manuscript. American Economic Review, 2021. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #26254.
      Featured in the December 2019 NBER Digest

“Disability and Distress: The Effect of Disability Programs on Financial Outcomes, with Manasi Deshpande and Yalun Su. Manuscript. Online Appendix. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2021. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #25642.
      Previously circulated with the title:“Income-Support Programs and Financial Distress: Evidence from Disability Programs.
      Twitter summary.
      Winner of the 2024 Best Paper Award for AEJ: Applied.

“All Medicaid expansions are not created equal: The geography and targeting of the Affordable Care Act,” with Craig Garthwaite, John Graves, Victoria Marone, Zeynal Karaca,  Matthew Notowidigdo. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2019. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #26289.

“The Marginal Propensity to Consume over the Business Cycle,” with Matthew Notowidigdo and Jialan Wang. ManuscriptAmerican Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2020. Published Version.
      
Originally released as NBER Working Paper #22518.
      Winner of the Outstanding Paper Award in Financial Institutions, Midwest Finance Association 2017 Conference.

“The Effect of Pollution on Office Workers: Evidence from Call Centers in China,” with Tom Chang, Joshua Graff Zivin, and Matthew Neidell. ManuscriptAmerican Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2019. Published Version.
      
Originally released as NBER Working Paper #22328.
      Media Coverage: Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, Yahoo, Vox EU.
      Featured in the September 2016 NBER Digest

Early Medicaid Expansion Associated With Reduced Payday Borrowing In California,” with Heidi Allen, Ashley Swanson, and Jialan Wang. Health Affairs, 2017. Published Version.

“Hospitals as Insurers of Last Resort,” with Craig Garthwaite and Matthew Notowidigdo. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 10(1), 2018. (Lead article.) Manuscript. Published Version.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #21290.
      Featured in the October 2015 NBER Digest
      Media Coverage: USA Today, Modern Healthcare, USA Today.

“Particulate Pollution and the Productivity of Pear Packers,” with Tom Chang, Joshua Graff Zivin, and Matthew Neidell. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(3), 2016. Manuscript. Published Version. Corrigendum.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #19944
      Media Coverage: Washington Post; Business Insider.

“The Effect of Health Insurance on Emergency Department Visits: Evidence from an Age-Based Eligibility Threshold,” with Michael Anderson and Carlos Dobkin. Review of Economics and Statistics, 96(1), 2014. Manuscript. Published Version.

“Public Health Insurance, Labor Supply, and Employment Lock,” with Craig Garthwaite and Matthew Notowidigdo. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(2), 2014. Manuscript. Online Appendix. Replication Kit. Published Version.
      Featured in the October 2013 NBER Digest
      Media Coverage: NPR; BusinessWeek; The Economist.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #19220
      Reply to DeLeire (2018)

“Liquidity Constraints and Consumer Bankruptcy: Evidence from Tax Rebates,” with Matthew Notowidigdo and Jialan Wang. Review of Economics and Statistics, 96(3), 2014. Manuscript. Appendix. Published Version. Replication Kit.
      Featured in the June 2012 NBER Digest
      Media Coverage: Los Angeles Times; Huffington Post; Vox; Forbes; CNN.
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #17807

“Dangerous Liquidity and the Demand for Health Care: Evidence from the 2008 Stimulus Payments,” with Jeremy Tobacman. Journal of Human Resources, 49(2) 2014. Manuscript. Online Appendix. Published Version.

“What Happens the Morning After? Access to Emergency Contraception and its Impact on Fertility and Abortion,” with Jeanne Lafortune and Corinne Low. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 2014. Manuscript. Published Version.
      Winner of the 2014 Raymond Vernon Memorial Award for the Best Research Article Published in JPAM.

“How Many Pears Would a Pear Packer Pack if a Pear Packer Could Pack Pears at Quasi-Exogenously Varying Piece Rates?  An Empirical Evaluation of Inter-temporal Labor Supply,” with Tom Chang. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 99, 2014. (Lead article.) Manuscript. Published Version.

“Health Insurance and the Consumer Bankruptcy Decision: Evidence from Medicaid Expansions,” with Matthew Notowidigdo. Journal of Public Economics, 95(7–8), 2011. Manuscript. Published Version.
Media Coverage: Modern Healthcare

“The Effect of Insurance on the Use of Medical Services,” with Michael Anderson and Carlos Dobkin. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(4), 2012. Manuscript. Published Version.
      Featured in the July 2010 NBER Digest
      Media Coverage: Washington Post
      Originally released as NBER Working Paper #15823

Other

A LaTeX template for economics papers

Some advice on creating good graphs with Stata

A LaTeX template for paper exams

The case for active-learning exercises in class

A problem set for teaching data analysis

If any instructors would like notes or slides to aid in teaching health economics or managerial economics, please contact me.