Emily Oster

Emily Oster is an economist who received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Oster, now a Becker Fellow at the University of Chicago, is best known for her controversial Ph.D. dissertation "Hepatitis B and the Case of the Missing Women," in which Oster theorized that the reason the male/female baby birth ratio in Asian countries is so skewed towards males is because widespread Hepatitis B infection in Asia causes mothers to bear more boys. In a follow-up paper, Oster questioned the validity of her own findings.

Fast Facts:

1. Spouse: Jesse Shapiro, economist
2. Major work: Dissertation Hepatitis B and the Case of the Missing Women
3. School: Harvard University, B.A. 2002, Ph.D. 2006 in Economics
4. Faculty: University of Chicago Becker Fellow
5. Oster is currently working on HIV prevention in Africa

Childhood Research

As a young economist, Oster has developed several controversial theories concerning birth rates in Asia and AIDS transmission in Africa. However, as a toddler, researchers placed microphones in her crib in an effort to understand children's speech patterns at an early age. From these recordings, child psychologist Katherine Nelson wrote a book, Narratives from the Crib, which caused other child psychologists in the field to begin to believe that children developed language abilities in ways unrealized before. However, today, some researchers believe that Oster's high IQ made the research that came from these childhood recordings flawed.

Categories