Biography
Alicia Sasser is a Senior Economist in the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Sasser worked as an economist in the private sector and taught economics at Mount Holyoke College.

Her current research focuses on housing affordability, migration, expansions in health insurance coverage, and interactions between health and labor markets. Alicia's work has appeared in journals such as Health Affairs and the Journal of Human Resources and has been presented at annual meetings of the American Economic Association, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, and the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.

Education

Ph.D., economics, Harvard University, 2001

A.M., economics, Harvard University, 2000

B.A., mathematics and economics, Boston University, magna cum laude, 1993

Work experience

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Senior Economist, 2007-

Economist, 2005-2007
Research Assistant, 1993-1997

 

Mount Holyoke College

Assistant Professor, 2004-2005

 

Analysis Group, Inc.

Academic Affiliate, 2005
Associate, 2002-2004

 

Mathematica Policy Research

Economist, 2001-2002

 

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Research Assistant, 1997-2001

 

Harvard University

Teaching Fellow, 1999-2001
Economics Tutor, 1997-2001

Books

Sasser, Alicia Catherine. 2001. The Role of Gender and Family in the Labor Market. Ph.D. Thesis, Harvard University, UMI No. 3011475.

Journals

Regional Review

“Perspective: On State Tax Policy,” with Robert Tannenwald. vol. 7, no. 1, (Winter 1997).

Other journal articles

“The Value Of Antihypertensive Drugs: A Perspective On Medical Innovation,” with David M. Cutler, Genia Long, Ernst R. Berndt, Jimmy Royer, Andrée-Anne Fournier, and Pierre Cremieux. Health Affairs. vol. 26, no. 1 (2007): 97-110.

“Assessing the Economic Impact of Chronic Conditions in Post-Menopausal Women,” with Maida Taylor, Howard Birnbaum, Michael Schoenfeld, Emily Oster, and Matthew Rousculp. Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy. vol. 6, no. 11 (September 2005): 1803-1814.

“Gender Differences in Physician Pay: Tradeoffs Between Career and Family.” Journal of Human Resources. vol. 40, no. 2 (Spring 2005).

“Economic Burden of Osteoporosis, Breast Cancer, and Cardiovascular Disease Among Postmenopausal Women in an Employed Population,” with Matthew Rousculp, Howard Birnbaum, Emily Oster, Edward Lufkin, and David Mallet. Women’s Health Issues. vol. 15, no. 3 (May/June 2005): 97-108.

Research reports

“The Potential Economic Impact of Increasing the Minimum Wage in Massachusetts.” New England Public Policy Center Research Report N06-1 (2006).

Policy briefs

“The New England Rental Market.”  New England Public Policy Center Policy Brief No. 07-1 (2007).

Working papers

“The Lack of Affordable Housing in New England: How Big a Problem? Why Is It Growing? What Are We Doing About It?” with Bo Zhao and Darcy Rollins (with an overview by Robert Tannenwald), New England Public Policy Center Series, paper no. 06-1 (2006).

“The Impact of Managed Care on the Gender Earnings Gap Among Physicians.” Revise and Resubmit, Industrial Labor & Relations Review.

“Assessing the Economic Impact of Chronic Conditions in Post-Menopausal Women,” with Howard Birnbaum, David Mallet, Emily Oster, and Matthew Rousculp. Revise and Resubmit, Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy.

“The Impact of Antihypertensive Drugs on the Number and Risk of Death, Stroke, and Myocardial Infarction,” with Ernst Berndt, Pierre Cremieux, David Cutler, Andree-Anne Fournier, Genia Long, and Jimmy Royer. Submitted to New England Journal of Medicine.

“The Impact of the Vaccines for Children Program on Rates of Childhood Immunization.” with Howard Birnbaum, Andree-Anne Fournier, Genia Long, Louis Rossiter, and Jimmy Royer. Submitted to Health Affairs.

“Examining the Accuracy of a Budget Impact Model: Predicting the First-Year Use of a New Osteoporosis Therapy,” with Howard Birnbaum, David Mallet, Erick Moyneur, and Matthew Rousculp. Submitted to Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy.

Other material

“Trends in Median Income in Massachusetts, Greater Boston, and the City of Boston,” with Brad Hershbein (May 2006).

“Health Care Employment across New England and the Nation,” with Matthew Nagowski (March 2006).

“The Impact of Welfare Reform on Children’s Health and Nutritional Status,” with Phil Gleason, Mathematica Policy Research, (May 2002).

“A Snapshot of the Implementation of California’s Mental Health Parity Law,” with Timothy Lake, Cheryl Young, and Brian Quinn. Mathematica Policy Research, (February 2002).

Public service