Four Gies Business faculty featured at NBER Summer Institute

Four Gies College of Business faculty authored research papers that were featured at the 2025 National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Summer Institute conference held July 7-25 in Cambridge, MA. The conference is one of the most selective gatherings in the field of economics with all presenters selected by invitation only.

“Water Works: Causes and Consequences of Safe Drinking Water in America,” coauthored by Gies Business Associate Professor of Finance David Molitor, explores trends, causes, and consequences of US drinking water pollution. Molitor and his coauthors analyzed more than 200 million readings on over 1,000 pollutants from 48 states over decades, linking pollution geographically to administrative Medicare data on older Americans’ health outcomes. Their results show that US drinking water pollution is declining rapidly; loans provided by the Safe Drinking Water Act to cities substantially reduce pollution; and these loans significantly reduce mortality rates of older Americans, at a cost of $124,000 per premature death avoided.

“The Long-Run Effect of Air Pollution on Survival,” coauthored by Gies Business Associate Professors of Finance Tatyana Deryugina and Julian Reif, develops a new framework for quantifying the effect of air pollution exposure on life expectancy. Deryugina and Reif characterize the dynamic mortality effects of short-run exposure and then incorporate those estimates into a model to quantify the lifelong effects of a permanent reduction in air pollution exposure. Their study finds that 90 percent of the survival benefits accrue after the first 50 years of life.

“Competition and Fraud in Health Care,” coauthored by Gies Business Assistant Professor of Finance Riley League, looks at the role market competition plays in fraud against the government. League and his coauthors studied this tradeoff in Medicare’s procurement of durable medical equipment. Their results show that fraudulent firms increased their market share after a policy change increased the level of competition, with the gains coming from legitimate firms exiting the market rather than fraudulent firms manipulating the procurement process or committing more fraud.

Deryugina, League, Molitor, and Reif are affiliates with the Center for Business and Public Policy (CBPP) at Gies College of Business. The Center promotes rigorous research on how market forces and public policy shape one another and communicates these findings through groundbreaking research, innovative teaching, and impactful public engagement activities. Molitor is also the director of the Health Care Research Initiative at Gies Business, which drives rigorous research that advances our understanding of major health care issues affecting Illinois and the broader United States.