Amy N. Finkelstein Ph.D., M.Phil.
Co-Scientific Director of J-PAL North America
Co-Director of the Public Economics Program at the NBER
Ford Professor of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: afink@mit.edu
Discipline: Economics
Expertise: Insurance, Health Economics
Investigator Award 
Explaining the Limited Size of the Private Long-Term Care Insurance Market: The Effect of Public Insurance and Tax PolicyAward Year: 2003 This Investigator Award project, Explaining the Limited Size of the Private Long-Term Care Insurance Market, tests economic theories to understand why most people choose not to purchase long-term care insurance, instead paying for care out of pocket. Drs. Brown and Finkelstein explore how the pricing of insurance policies and the availability of Medicaid coverage for those who are eligible influence decisions on whether to purchase long-term care insurance. They try to delineate how public policy can be used to increase demand for coverage, particularly as baby boomers age and medical costs rise. In addition, they will examine the possible effects of proposed reforms on the size of the market for longterm care insurance.
Background 
Amy N. Finkelstein is the Ford Professor of Economics and the co-scientific director of J-PAL North America at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as the co-director of the Public Economics Program at the NBER. Her research is directed toward market failures and government intervention in insurance markets, and the impact of public policy on the health care sector, particularly on the development and diffusion of medical technology. She received her A.B. in government from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Economics from MIT. In 2012, Finkelstein was name the winner of the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, an annual award given by the American Economic Association; and she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She received the Zvi Griliches Fellowship at the NBER for the academic year 2007/8. She was the 2003 recipient of the Geneva Association's Ernst Meyer Prize "for an outstanding contribution by a young academic to the field of insurance and risk management research."
- Baicker, K., Finkelstein, A. The Effects of Medicaid Coverage Learning from the Oregon Experiment. NEJM, Aug 25 2011, 365(8): 683-85.
- Finkelstein, A., Taubman, S., Wright, B., Bernstein, M., Gruber, J., Newhouse, J.P., Allen, H., Baicker, K., Oregon Health Study Group. The Oregon Health Insurance Experiment: Evidence from the First Year. NBER, Jul 2011, Working Paper No. 17190.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. The Interaction of Public and Private Insurance: Medicaid and the Long-Term Care Insurance Market. American Economic Review, 2008, 98(3): 1083-102.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. The Interaction of Public and Private Insurance: Medicaid and the Long-Term Care Insurance Market. American Economic Review, 2008, 98(3): 1083-102.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. Why is the Market for Long-Term Care Insurance so Small?. J of Public Economics, 2007, 91(10): 1967-91.
- Finkelstein, A., McGarry, K. Multiple Dimensions of Private Information: Evidence from the Long-Term Care Insurance Market. American Economic Review, 2006, 96(4): 938-58.
- Finkelstein, A., McGarry, K., Sufi, A. Dynamic Inefficiencies in Insurance Markets: Evidence from Long-Term Care Insurance. American Economic Review, 2005, 95(2): 224-8.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. Supply or Demand: Why Is the Market for Long-Term Care Insurance So Small? NBER Working Paper , Sep 2004, 10782.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. The Interaction of Public and Private Insurance: Medicaid and the Long-Term Care Insurance Market. NBER Working Paper , Dec 2004, 10989.
- Brown, J.R., Finkelstein, A. The Interaction of Public and Private Insurance: Medicaid and the Long-Term Care Insurance Market. NBER Working Paper , Dec 2004, 10989.