Emily Oster

“The greatest moments are those when you see the result pop up in a graph or in your statistics analysis - that moment you realise you know something no one else does and you get the pleasure...”

“To put it mildly, I'm not crazy about the implication that pregnant women are incapable of deciding for themselves.”

“I had always been told that you shouldn't clean the litter box when you're pregnant, because of your cat. And I think that is overblown - unless you have, like, three kittens in your house t...”

“I tell my micro students everything I teach them is important, but the truth is that some things are more useful than others, and opportunity cost is near the top.”

“Talking to women about birth can be polarizing.”

“Even though it is the case that poverty is linked to AIDS, in the sense that Africa is poor and they have a lot of AIDS, it's not necessarily the case that improving poverty - at least in th...”

“All's fair in love and purchasing.”

“Even if you are planning a birth with an epidural, the evidence suggests that a doula can help make things go much more smoothly.”

“The basic idea that incentives can be used to motivate behavior is a powerful one. It works for employees, and it has a clear place in parenting, as anyone who has tried to potty-train a rec...”