The Essen Health Conference.

Where Health meets Labour and Education Economics.

Oct 2 - Oct 3, 2020

Essen, Germany

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About the conference

The Essen Health Conference 2020 took place on the 2nd and 3rd of October. Martin Karlsson of the University of Duisburg-Essen and Therese Nilsson of the Lund University organized the symposium under the tried and tested theme Where Health meets Labour and Education Economics. More than 40 economists presented and discussed their research in the field of health economics.

For the first time the conference took place online due to Covid-19 restrictions. The organization had to break fresh ground and developed a digital infrastructure which will be used for future online and live conference. Participants reported a pleasant, enriching and promising experience with the new conference structure and website.

The online format contained most of last year’s content aspects of the conference. Jakob Svensson (Stockholm University) and Achyuta Adhvaryu (University of Michigan) provided insights into relevant research about health care systems and policies in emerging and developing countries during their keynote lectures. Besides the regular presentations the annual Best Paper Award was awarded as well as informal talks about research and teaching.

Experienced professors and doctoral students had the possibility for intensive and honest exchange. “Especially junior researchers gain from the qualified feedback on your own work”, state Norman Bannenberg, a scholar of the University of Duisburg-Essen, who presented his latest project.

The conference is organized by the health economics research centre CINCH which is founded by the German federal ministry of education and research. The conference organization is financially supported by Kulturstiftung Essen. The centre’s focus lies on topics related to competition in the health care sector, which are evaluated by two junior research groups as well as complementary projects. The conference in 2020 is already at the planning stage. Next year’s focus will again lie at the interface of health, labour, and education.

Best Paper Award

This year, the Best Paper Award was awarded for the third time. Among the overall high-quality submissions this year, this year's winner was Christine Valente (University of Bristol) with her paper "Subjective Expectations and Demand for Contraception". The paper is co-authored by A Grant Miller and Áureo de Paula.

The second place was conferred to Elisa Macchi (University of Zurich) and her paper "Worth Your Weight: Experimental Evidence on the Benefits of Obesity in Low-Income Countries".

The third place was conferred to Siddhartha Sanghi (Washington University in St. Louis) and the paper "Health Inequality: Role of Insurance and Technological Progress".

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