Out-of-the-box Economics: "Are Health Care Costs Actually Falling?"

The Cornell Boardroom Executive MBA Program is cosponsoring a Faculty Speaker event with the Cornell Alumni Association of Central Ohio on May 9, 2006 at the Iron Horse Inn. Professor Sean Nicholson's presentation is entitled "Are Health Care Costs Actually Falling?" Here's the write-up from the event's annoucement:

What You'll Learn: Health care spending in the United States increased at an average rate of 7.5 percent a year between 1980 and 2004. That rise is explained by various factors, including the aging population, high prescription drug prices, the role of health insurance, and expensive new medical products. Using the treatment of heart attacks, mental illness, and colon cancer as examples, Professor Nicholson will explore the idea that the cost of health care is actually falling, when improvements to quality are taken into account.

About the Speaker: Sean Nicholson is an assistant professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Prior to joining Cornell in 2004, Professor Nicholson was a faculty member in the Health Care Systems Department at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, a research associate at the Population Studies Center at Penn, and a visiting scholar at the National Board of Medical Examiners. He earned a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1986 and a PhD in economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1997.