Celebrating faculty: Adam Biener

What is the focus of your research/area of expertise?

My research focuses on medical care use and spending in the U.S. Some topics I have studied include the medical care costs of obesity, racial and ethnic health care disparities, surprise medical billing, and policies to expand health insurance coverage. I also have done research on econometric methods. What excites me about this work is the opportunity to generate evidence that can be used to understand the landscape of health care in the U.S. and inform better public policy to help us all access quality health care when we need it and live healthier lives.

How do students benefit from your scholarship and research? 

I enjoy teaching students not just how to understand economics or do research, but how to write and communicate their findings effectively to clients or policymakers by drawing on my scholarship and experience conducting research with the federal government, industry partners, and nonprofits. In my classes, students see how economic theory and data analysis can be translated into actionable evidence. They get to try their hands at empirical research as well as making their own policy briefs and data visualizations.

What will you be teaching in the fall? 

I will be teaching ECON 251: Intermediate Microeconomics and senior capstone ECON 401: Economics of the U.S. Health Care Industry. Microeconomic theory can help students understand everything from the prices of groceries to the wages they can expect to earn in their first job. In my capstone, students use both microeconomics and econometrics to study timely issues in U.S. health care and conduct their own health economics research.