Amy Finkelstein

Amy Finkelstein is the co-scientific director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) North America, a research centre at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) designed to encourage and facilitate randomised evaluations of important domestic policy issues. She previously served as co-chair of J-PAL's 'Social policy research initiative'. Amy holds various positions including the John and Jennie S MacDonald Professorship of Economics at MIT. She is the co-director of the public economics programme at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Institute of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Econometric Society.

Amy has made significant contributions to the field of health economics. She is one of two principal investigators currently leading the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, a randomised evaluation of the impact of extending Medicaid coverage to low income, uninsured adults and is the author the book, 'We’ve got you covered: Rebooting American healthcare' (2023) which sets out to answer whether the US government should provide everyone with free universal healthcare.

She took a bachelor's degree in government from MIT, followed by a Master's of Philosophy in economics from Oxford University and a PhD in economics from MIT.

Media

Groundbreaking poverty alleviation project expands with new Arnold Ventures, J-PAL North America collaboration

Paying off people’s medical debt has little impact on their lives, study finds

Ross hosts Amy Finkelstein for talk on the American health care system

New report reveals the surprising benefit to economic recessions: They help you live longer

The surprising public health benefit of unemployment

What’s wrong with the U.S. welfare state?

Universal health coverage in Utah? One economist makes an argument for it

'Junk insurance' Part 2: Coverage and its discontents

What if cancelling people’s medical debt doesn’t help them?

Embracing failure in health care delivery and learning from null results

Health insurance without health care

How official health insurance numbers understate consumer risks

U.S. healthcare system leaves far too many people underinsured

"Rebooting American healthcare" with Amy Finkelstein

We’ve got you covered: Rebooting American healthcare

Employer-sponsored healthcare aggravates US inequality

Reflecting on a decade of impactful research at J-PAL North America

US health care has been in crisis since Nixon–but J-PAL economist Amy Finkelstein may have found a way to radically disrupt it

We’re already paying for universal health care. Why don’t we have it?

J-PAL co-scientific director Amy Finkelstein recognised in 2023 STATUS List as a leader in life sciences

Why insurance markets are a game of cat and mouse

Why cash is better than expanded health insurance for the poor