Journal Article
Playing Defense? Health Care in the Era of Covid
This paper presents evidence that the quality of health care interactions changed in important ways during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Jul 28, 2022
Edward N. Okeke
Senior Economist; Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Washington Office
Education
Ph.D. in health policy (economics), University of Michigan; M.A. in applied economics, University of Michigan; M.P.H., University of Michigan; M.D., Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Overview
Edward Okeke is a senior economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is an applied microeconomist and a physician with training in public health. His research lies at the intersection of health and development. Specific areas of interest include the returns to health care in the formal sector, adoption of preventive health technologies, investments in health and human capital, and maternal and infant health. Much of Okeke's work is in sub-Saharan Africa, but he also works in South Asia and Latin America.
Okeke's work has received support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Cancer Institute, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), and the Russell Sage Foundation, amongst others. He has served as the principal investigator on numerous studies and is currently leading two large multi-site RCTs in Nigeria funded by the NIH. Prior to joining RAND, he was an assistant professor of health economics and policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Okeke holds an M.B.B.S. (M.D.) from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, an M.A. in applied economics, a Master's in public health, and a Ph.D. in health policy (economics) from the University of Michigan.
Research Focus
Selected Publications
Okeke, Edward N., "Playing Defense? Health Care in the Era of Covid," Journal of Health Economics, 102665, 2022
Okeke, Edward N., "Working Hard or Hardly Working: Health Worker Effort and Health Outcomes. ," Economic Development and Cultural Change, 70(1), 2021
Okeke, Edward N., Zachary Wagner, and Isa Abubakar, "Maternal Cash Transfers led to Increases in Facility Deliveries and Improved Quality of Delivery Care in Nigeria," Health Affairs, 39(6), 2020
Okeke, Edward N., and Isa Abubakar, "Healthcare at the Beginning of Life and Child Survival: Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment in Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, 143(102426), 2020
Chari, A.V., Peter Glick, Edward N. Okeke, and Sinduja Srinivasan, "Does Workfare Worsen Infant Health? Evidence from India’s Public Works Program," Journal of Development Economics , 138, 2019
Okeke, Edward N., and A.V. Chari, "Health Care at Birth and Infant Mortality: Evidence from Nighttime Deliveries in Nigeria," Social Science and Medicine , 196, 2018
Godlonton, Susan and Edward N. Okeke, "Does a Ban on Informal Health Providers Save Lives? Evidence from Malawi," Journal of Development Economics, 118, 2016
