Marcella Alsan
Biographic Data
| ID | 1471339 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marcella Alsan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marcella |
| FAMILY NAME | Alsan |
| SIGNATURE | ALSAN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Stanford University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0168-7268 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 123 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Prescription for Division—Healing the Growing Gap in Physician Trust
This JAMA Forum discusses the erosion of physician trust after the COVID-19 pandemic and provides short- and long-term suggestions for repairing the patient-physician relationship
Can a Trusted Messenger Change Behavior When Information Is Plentiful? Evidence from the First Months of the Covid-19 Pandemic in West Bengal
Can information from a credible messenger shift behavior in an information-saturated environment? In a randomized controlled trial involving twenty-eight million individuals in West Bengal, we find that SMS-delivered video messages containing information about COVID-19 symptoms and health-preserving behaviors recorded by a credible messenger increased adherence to targeted and non-targeted preventive behaviors, measured by two objective measures …
Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities
We study the effects of Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program that dramatically increased interior removals of Hispanic noncitizens from the United States, on participation in means-tested social insurance programs among co-ethnic citizens. Exploiting county-level variation in the roll-out of enforcement together with its ethnic specificity, we find that Hispanic-headed citizen households significantly reduced their participation…
Doctors' and Nurses' Social Media Ads Reduced Holiday Travel and Covid-19 Infections: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
We thank the health team at Facebook for their in-kind financial
Technological Progress and Health Convergence: The Case of Penicillin in Postwar Italy
Throughout history, technological progress has transformed population health, but the distributional effects of these gains are unclear. New substitutes for older, more expensive health technologies can produce convergence in population health outcomes but may also be prone to elite capture and thus divergence. We study the case of penicillin using detailed historical mortality statistics and exploiting its abruptly timed introduction in Italy af…
The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of Covid-19 in the United States
We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, preexisting biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of diseas…
Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland
We study the effect of physician workforce diversity on the demand for preventive care among African American men. In an experiment in Oakland, California, we randomize black men to black or non-black male medical doctors. We use a two-stage design, measuring decisions before (pre-consultation) and after (post-consultation) meeting their assigned doctor. Subjects select a similar number of preventives in the pre-consultation stage, but are much m…
Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men
For 40 years, the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male passively monitored hundreds of adult black men with syphilis despite the availability of effective treatment. The study’s methods have become synonymous with exploitation and mistreatment by the medical profession. To identify the study’s effects on the behavior and health of older black men, we use an interacted difference-in-difference-in-differences model, comparing olde…
Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920
We explore the first period of sustained decline in child mortality in the U.S. and provide estimates of the independent and combined effects of clean water and effective sewerage systems on under-five mortality. Our case is Massachusetts, 1880 to 1920, when authorities developed a sewerage and water district in the Boston area. We find the two interventions were complementary and together account for approximately one-third of the decline in log…
Risk factors for Aids-defining illnesses among a population of poorly adherent people living with HIV/Aids in Atlanta, Georgia
In order to achieve the programmatic goals established in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, virologic suppression remains the most important outcome within the HIV care continuum for individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Therefore, clinicians have dedicated substantial resources to improve adherence and clinic retention for individuals on ART; however, these efforts should be focused first on those most at risk of morbidity and mortal…
Antibiotic Use in Cold and Flu Season and Prescribing Quality: A Retrospective Cohort Study
BACKGROUND: Excessive antibiotic use in cold and flu season is costly and contributes to antibiotic resistance. The study objective was to develop an index of excessive antibiotic use in cold and flu season and determine its correlation with other indicators of prescribing quality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We included Medicare beneficiaries in the 40% random sample denominator file continuously enrolled in fee-for-service benefits for 2010 or 2011 (…
The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development
The TseTse fly is unique to Africa and transmits a parasite harmful to humans and lethal to livestock. This paper tests the hypothesis that the TseTse reduced the ability of Africans to generate an agricultural surplus historically. Ethnic groups inhabiting TseTse-suitable areas were less likely to use domesticated animals and the plow, less likely to be politically centralized, and had a lower population density. These correlations are not found…
The effect of population health on foreign direct investment inflows to low- and middle-income countries
The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development
The TseTse fly is unique to Africa and transmits a parasite harmful to humans and lethal to livestock. This paper tests the hypothesis that the TseTse reduced the ability of Africans to generate an agricultural surplus historically. Ethnic groups inhabiting TseTse-suitable areas were less likely to use domesticated animals and the plow, less likely to be politically centralized, and had a lower population density. These correlations are not found…
Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920
We explore the first period of sustained decline in child mortality in the U.S. and provide estimates of the independent and combined effects of clean water and effective sewerage systems on under-five mortality. Our case is Massachusetts, 1880 to 1920, when authorities developed a sewerage and water district in the Boston area. We find the two interventions were complementary and together account for approximately one-third of the decline in log…
The effect of population health on foreign direct investment inflows to low- and middle-income countries
The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of Covid-19 in the United States
We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, preexisting biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of diseas…
Technological Progress and Health Convergence: The Case of Penicillin in Postwar Italy
Throughout history, technological progress has transformed population health, but the distributional effects of these gains are unclear. New substitutes for older, more expensive health technologies can produce convergence in population health outcomes but may also be prone to elite capture and thus divergence. We study the case of penicillin using detailed historical mortality statistics and exploiting its abruptly timed introduction in Italy af…
The effect of population health on foreign direct investment inflows to low- and middle-income countries
Risk factors for Aids-defining illnesses among a population of poorly adherent people living with HIV/Aids in Atlanta, Georgia
In order to achieve the programmatic goals established in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, virologic suppression remains the most important outcome within the HIV care continuum for individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Therefore, clinicians have dedicated substantial resources to improve adherence and clinic retention for individuals on ART; however, these efforts should be focused first on those most at risk of morbidity and mortal…
Antibiotic Use in Cold and Flu Season and Prescribing Quality: A Retrospective Cohort Study
BACKGROUND: Excessive antibiotic use in cold and flu season is costly and contributes to antibiotic resistance. The study objective was to develop an index of excessive antibiotic use in cold and flu season and determine its correlation with other indicators of prescribing quality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We included Medicare beneficiaries in the 40% random sample denominator file continuously enrolled in fee-for-service benefits for 2010 or 2011 (…
The Effect of the TseTse Fly on African Development
The TseTse fly is unique to Africa and transmits a parasite harmful to humans and lethal to livestock. This paper tests the hypothesis that the TseTse reduced the ability of Africans to generate an agricultural surplus historically. Ethnic groups inhabiting TseTse-suitable areas were less likely to use domesticated animals and the plow, less likely to be politically centralized, and had a lower population density. These correlations are not found…
Tuskegee and the Health of Black Men
For 40 years, the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male passively monitored hundreds of adult black men with syphilis despite the availability of effective treatment. The study’s methods have become synonymous with exploitation and mistreatment by the medical profession. To identify the study’s effects on the behavior and health of older black men, we use an interacted difference-in-difference-in-differences model, comparing olde…
Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920
We explore the first period of sustained decline in child mortality in the U.S. and provide estimates of the independent and combined effects of clean water and effective sewerage systems on under-five mortality. Our case is Massachusetts, 1880 to 1920, when authorities developed a sewerage and water district in the Boston area. We find the two interventions were complementary and together account for approximately one-third of the decline in log…
Does Diversity Matter for Health? Experimental Evidence from Oakland
We study the effect of physician workforce diversity on the demand for preventive care among African American men. In an experiment in Oakland, California, we randomize black men to black or non-black male medical doctors. We use a two-stage design, measuring decisions before (pre-consultation) and after (post-consultation) meeting their assigned doctor. Subjects select a similar number of preventives in the pre-consultation stage, but are much m…
Doctors' and Nurses' Social Media Ads Reduced Holiday Travel and Covid-19 Infections: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
We thank the health team at Facebook for their in-kind financial
Technological Progress and Health Convergence: The Case of Penicillin in Postwar Italy
Throughout history, technological progress has transformed population health, but the distributional effects of these gains are unclear. New substitutes for older, more expensive health technologies can produce convergence in population health outcomes but may also be prone to elite capture and thus divergence. We study the case of penicillin using detailed historical mortality statistics and exploiting its abruptly timed introduction in Italy af…
The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of Covid-19 in the United States
We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, preexisting biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of diseas…
Can a Trusted Messenger Change Behavior When Information Is Plentiful? Evidence from the First Months of the Covid-19 Pandemic in West Bengal
Can information from a credible messenger shift behavior in an information-saturated environment? In a randomized controlled trial involving twenty-eight million individuals in West Bengal, we find that SMS-delivered video messages containing information about COVID-19 symptoms and health-preserving behaviors recorded by a credible messenger increased adherence to targeted and non-targeted preventive behaviors, measured by two objective measures …
Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities
We study the effects of Secure Communities, an immigration enforcement program that dramatically increased interior removals of Hispanic noncitizens from the United States, on participation in means-tested social insurance programs among co-ethnic citizens. Exploiting county-level variation in the roll-out of enforcement together with its ethnic specificity, we find that Hispanic-headed citizen households significantly reduced their participation…
Prescription for Division—Healing the Growing Gap in Physician Trust
This JAMA Forum discusses the erosion of physician trust after the COVID-19 pandemic and provides short- and long-term suggestions for repairing the patient-physician relationship
Medicine (9 works) · Economics (7 works) · Economic growth (5 works) · Environmental health (5 works) · Psychology (4 works) · 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak (3 works) · Biology (3 works) · Business (3 works) · Demographic economics (3 works) · Demography (3 works)