Ben Harrell

Still looking for submissions in Health Equity. Get those abstracts in!

Do you have research that explores how the intersections of policy, socioeconomics, and institutions drive differences in health outcomes? As this year's #ASHEcon2026 Chair of Health Equity, I'd love to read your abstract!

Submit here: ashecon.confex.com/ashecon/2026...

What's the upshot? We have to find a way to spread gains in insurance coverage realized by rich, married gay men living in liberal states to the broader 🏳️‍🌈 community. A big part of that is in expanding Medicaid, but also in addressing upstream problems like income inequality! 6/6

Finally, Medicaid expansion plays a key role here. Gains in SSC insurance status are mostly concentrated in states that have expanded Medicaid, which @samueljamesmann
@Cameron_Deal_
@GilbGonzales
Kitt Carpenter, and I have written on about elsewhere: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1... 5/6

In addition to accruing mostly to white SSCs and married couples (see above citations), these gains are realized mostly at the top of the income distribution, and are *much* more concentrated at the top than with DSCs (peep that IQR!). 4/6

SSCs are more likely to get their insurance through their jobs compared to DSCs than through any other provider (and at higher rates). Pre-Obergefell, this would have been through domestic partner benefits. I've written about this elsewhere: journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1... 3/6

Since Obergefell (really, since Windsor), SSCs have met parity (and in some years exceeded) their counterparts in health insurance coverage, but these gains (as others like Andrew Bolibol, Gilbert Gonzalez, and Lynn Blewett have found) are not equally distributed. 2/6

Health Insurance Coverage Among Same-Sex vs Different-Sex Couples This cross-sectional study compares health insurance coverage rates between same-sex and different-sex couples in the US from 2008 to 2022 by marital status, type of insurer, state of residence, and h...

New in @jamanetworkopen.com with Gabe Miller and Nicole Jones: the 2010s saw a reversal of an enduring disparity in insurance rates among 🏳️‍🌈 ppl, particularly for same-sex couples. So how have these gains been realized? Let's get into it! A 🧵! 1/6
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

This is not the argument you want to make.

This is:

bsky.app/profile/elbe...

The steelman here is that material conditions create pressure & contradictions; ideas emerge in response to the contradictions. These ideas form the contours of the subsequent conflicts that give rise to the next set of contradictions. Conditions are the engine while ideas are the steering wheel.

You’re welcome Kirby, you gluttonous piece of shit.

Always bet on Ron Vara.

Which seems important when you’re debating a leftist, who likely is more into historical materialism.

Not to be glib, but you’re describing historical idealism.

It certainly will be. The president’s trade policy is a fool’s paradise.

Lmao painful.

justin sydnor headshot

The flu, COVID, RSV, and pneumonia kill thousands of Americans every year. Effective vaccines for these diseases exist, yet vaccination rates are low. What explains this? @justinsydnor.bsky.social will join us for a virtual seminar on Feb 26 from 12-1. Register here! chibe.upenn.edu/event/justin...

The best hack I have tried to improve how much I enjoy Microsoft Word is having collaborated on my first Overleaf-based project.

What a horrible experience if you write with the goal of communicating ideas $clearly$.

I understand learning curves, mine will be 100% counterfactual (never again)

Ironically back before he got fired from the Roosevelt Institute, we would get in twitter tiffs and he once reminded me that I was a PhD student at a state school and he got his from UChicago. I take a little personal pleasure that he continues to be demoted because of his personality.

I once perjoratively called Nathan,"Crankus."

Now, there's no one's reporting I trust more on the economic arms of the federal government. That's credibility you earn by being RIGHT, not by having a PhD behind your name.

Working papers I read:

“I realised that the people in these areas were just like me except they did not have the same resources that I had.”

New @nberpubs.bsky.social wp by
@edankaplan.bsky.social et al finds long-run effects of witnessing deprived neighbourhoods in childhood

1/N
#econsky

Important new research by my @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social colleagues: test-optional admission *hurts* the chances of less advantaged applicants, who don't submit scores that would dramatically increase their chance of admission. www.nber.org/papers/w3338...

I had such a fun time being a mentor to these incredible PhD students. If you have the capacity, this program can be an amazing way to give back and pay forward all the great mentorship you’ve received (or to give the mentorship you wish you had).

Does bad press hurt business? Our study finds no detectable effect of the Jared Fogle scandal on Subway patronage, challenging assumptions about the role of repugnance in consumer behavior. Consumers may separate a firm's products from its public symbols.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

As of 2024-12-01, the # of total jobs listed on JOE is down 4.9% from this point last year, down 25.1% from 2022, and down 15.7% from 2021. 2/8

News from Health Affairs Scholar. We now have a "research letter" option with a max 750-word count, < 10 references, and 1 table or figure (requirements to be updated on our website)
For details see:
academic.oup.com/healthaffair...

Guarantee you they're under an ENORMOUS amount of pressure from UH to get this solved fast, hence the very visible half-hearted attempt. What about the rest of us poor schlubs? How do *we* get to apply enormous amounts of pressure to the NYPD to pursue our policing agenda?

This is why rule of law is so important. When we send the message that the rich and powerful get to live with a different set of rules than the rest of us, we defile the soul of our republic. It's not just a technocratic inefficiency, it's MORALLY wrong. We don't have to accept it, and we shouldn't.

WE ALL KNOW THEY'RE NOT REALLY LOOKING FOR THE KILLER!!! That's the farce of it all. It's so performative. What is the opportunity cost of all the officers working this one high-profile murder? How do they feel about poking bushes in Central Park? Do they feel their time is being used well?