Michelle Marcus graduated in 2011 with her MA in Economics from Miami after getting her BS in Business Economics and BA in International Studies the year before with us. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University

First position after graduation: PhD student in Economics at Brown University

How do you use Eco in your everyday life? I currently teach undergraduate Health Economics at Vanderbilt. When I’m not teaching Economics, I’m researching economic questions in the fields of health and environmental economics. Some of my recent work has focused on quantifying the health and human capital impacts of exposure to contaminated drinking water, and studying how the timing of public notification of health threats impacts avoidance behaviors. Other recent work focuses on the respiratory impacts of air pollution, quantifying the health impacts of leaking underground storage tanks, measuring the impact of cleaner-burning gasoline on child asthma hospitalizations, and studying the effects of maritime emissions standards on air quality and infant health. Essentially, I get the joy of studying economic questions every day!

Eco Research Interest(s): Health, Environmental, Applied Microeconomics

Few examples of published journals: Journal of Health Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (accepted)

Favorite Eco course you took: My first ever economics class was Jerry Miller’s Honors course. After taking it, I changed my major and have loved economics ever since.