Improving Equity Using Private Investments
Brent Fulton, Associate Director
Public Health
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
In the United States, government spending on programs (excluding health programs) targeting low-income populations total about $450 billion per year, whereas personal savings in the U.S. totals about $1 trillion per year (but reached $2 to $3 trillion in 2020 and 2021 because of Covid/recession fears, which are not abating in 2022). Hence, the potential for private investment to improve equity is significant, but would be the rate of return?
This study will estimate the rate of return of private investments in the social determinants of health, under scenarios in which governments would share a portion of the increase in tax revenues plus the decrease in social spending with private investors. The study would try to estimate the rate of return and compare it with other investments (e.g., equity in firms, bonds, etc.).
For background, google Social Impact Bonds.
Role: The student will search for and summarize existing studies, and depending on skill level, do analyses and create tables/figures using excel (Google Sheets), and scrape websites for data.
The student's key learning outcome will be gaining a better understanding on how empirical research is conducted within health economics.
Qualifications: Required skills include the following: strong writing skills, proficiency in searching for literature (e.g., Google Scholar). Desirable but not essential skills include the following: finance background would be helpful; background in U.S. healthcare system and health economics (e.g., taken PH150D and/or PH126/Econ157) is less essential. Other: Zotero reference software within Google docs and Excel/Google Sheets. Hours per week is about 8-10 (so you could select 6-8 or 9-11).
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: We will meet weekly for an hour over Zoom or at 2121 Berkeley Way in the new SPH building.
Related website: https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/people/brent-fulton/
Related website: https://petris.org/