EcoEchoes – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode Francisca Vargas discusses with us about the research she conducted during her PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam: " Income inequalities beyond access to mental health care” and “Patient cost-sharing, mental health care and inequalities". In addition, she shares about her experience of having roles in academia, at OECD and as the Vice President of the Portuguese Association of Health Economics. 

Guest: Francisca Vargas Lopes

Hosts: Prithviraj Basu Mallik and María-José Mendoza

 Timestamps: 

(4:33) Francisca’s PhD research on “Income inequalities beyond access to mental health care”

(19:27) Discussion on the target group of the study “Patient cost-sharing, mental health care and inequalities"

(31:27) Dissemination of findings among policy makers and general public

(38:00) Challenges of having pursued a Multidisciplinary PhD

(47:00) Roles both in academia and in policy making complementing each other

(54:00) Role as the Vice President of the Portuguese Association for Health Economics

Sources: 

Lopes FV, Ravesteijn B, Van Ourti T, Riumallo-Herl C. Income inequalities beyond access to mental health care: a Dutch nationwide record-linkage cohort study of baseline disease severity, treatment intensity, and mental health outcomes. Lancet Psychiatry. 2023 Aug;10(8):588-597.

Lopes FV, Riumallo Herl CJ, Mackenbach JP, Van Ourti T. Patient cost-sharing, mental health care and inequalities: A population-based natural experiment at the transition to adulthood. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Mar;296:114741. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114741. Epub 2022 Jan 29. PMID: 35144223.

Guest: Jannis Stöckel 

Hosts: Fanny Tallgren and Prithviraj Basu Mallik 

In this episode we are happy to have Jannis Stöckel chatting with us about his working paper titled "Staying Sick but Feeling Better? – The Impact of Health Shocks on Health Perceptions and Behaviors" co-authored with Pieter Bakx and Bram Wouterse. Draft is available upon request. He is working both at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Health Economics section of ESHPM and at the London School of Economics LSE Health research centre. He also shares with us his experiences of presenting at conferences such as the Essen Health conference. We discuss the pros and cons of going to small versus larger conferences, and what to email another research that you would like to meet up with at a conference. He also gives lots of advice for PhDs and young researchers. More tips are also available upon request! 

Timestamps: 

(2:20) - Introduction to Jannis' PhD dissertation 

(4:55) - Discussion of Jannis' working paper  

(22:10) - What are optimal choices?  

(25:30) - Jannis' experience presenting at conferences  

(32:39) - Template for contacting another researcher before a conference 

(34:30) - Jannis' experience working in academia at both Erasmus University Rotterdam and LSE 

(39:42) - The benefits of doing a research visit  

(42:08) - General tips for PhDs and young researchers 

Greetings to the reader or listener?

We're EcoEchoes and this episode we'll introduce ourselves to you! and the podcast of course :)

Guest: Ava Hoogenboom (PhD student at ESHPM)

Hosts: María-José Mendoza and Karen Trujillo Jara

Short description: On this episode, Ava discusses her research titled “Loss aversion in EQ-5D-Y-3L: does it explain differences in willingness to trade-off life duration in adult and child perspectives?”, which was awarded at the 4th EuroQol Early Career Researcher Meeting.

Timestamps

(4:35) - Gap addressed in the paper

(5:43) - Definition of loss aversion

(11:37) - Further research on loss aversion

(15:42) - Challenges during the design and implementation of the study

(21:22) - Audience/participants at EuroQol ‘s Early Career Researcher Meeting.

(22:54) - Experience of being a PhD student

Source:

Hoogenboom, A.F. H., Lipman, S.A. (2024). Loss aversion in EQ-5D-Y-3L: does it explain differences in willingness to trade-off life duration in adult and child perspectives? EsCHER Working Paper Series No. 2024002, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available from: workingpapers | Erasmus University Rotterdam (eur.nl)

Guest: Nikkil Sudharsanan (Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Munich)

Hosts: María-José Mendoza and Fanny Tallgren

Short description:  On this episode Prof. Nikkil Sudharsanan shares some insights related to his paper on patient's influence on clinician behavior in the context of hypertension screening in India.

Timestamps

(03:29)- Research summary (motivation, set-up, findings)

(13:27)- Putting findings into perspective 

(19:06)- Potential of non-financial incentives

(27:46)- Presenting findings to different audiences

(32:35)- Where to place your research? Tips!

Paper/Links:

• Working paper "Under-Delivery of Preventive Care and Patient Influence on Clinician Behavior: Evidence from India" (link)
• Book chapter "Behavioral Science and Noncommunicable Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries" (link)

Guest: Callum Brindley

Hosts: Fanny Tallgren and Karen Trujillo Jara

Short description:  In this episode Callum discusses with us about his paper on the effect of hospital spending on waiting times and findings from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study.

Timestamps:

(2:09) - Paper on waiting times. How changes in hospital spending might affect hospital activity (i.e. admission of patients).

(7:07) - Thoughts on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021

(11:08) - Explanation and findings of mortality concentration in the GBD Study

(13:31) - Life expectancy

 (23:54) - Tips for PhD candidates

(30:30) - Podcasts recommended

Sources:

• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Global Burden of Disease 2021: Findings from the GBD 2021 Study. Seattle, WA: IHME, 2024.
• Callum Brindley, James Lomas & Luigi Siciliani (2023) - The effect of hospital spending on waiting times - Health Economics (United Kingdom), 32 (11), 2427-2445 - doi: 10.1002/hec.4735O

List of podcasts:

• Race & Health Podcast
• IHME Global Health Insights
• Lancet Voice
• BMJ Podcast (including series on Decolonising health and medicine)
• WHO Global Health Matters and Science in 5
• ABC Health Report
• BBC Health Check
• John Hopkins Public Health on Call
• The Mixtape with Scott
• Choiceology
• Nature Podcast
• No Such Thing As A Fish

Guest: Padmaja Ayyagari (Associate Professor at University of South Florida)  

Hosts: Prithviraj Basu Mallik and Fanny Tallgren 

Short description:  In this episode Professor Padmaja Ayyagari discusses with us her paper about the Medicaid program applied in the United States. 

Timestamps:

(01:38)- Medicaid (public insurance program in the United States) and paper scope (understand how Medicaid affect household's savings)   

(07:35)- Paper's contribution  

(14:08)- Conclusions and future work to identify the implications of such a program  

(20:36)- Personal experiences across different research contexts (e.g. theoretical and applied research)  

(32:00)- Health economics framework. What could fall in it? "Thinking through"  

(35:24)- What makes a paper good?  

Link: https://sites.google.com/view/padmajaayyagari 

In this episode, Professor Ana Balsa is chatting to us about her latest working paper titled "Mental Health Spillovers in Primary Schools". The paper studies the peer effects of students with mental health problems using longitudinal Danish register data.  We also touch upon her work on the parenting behavioural change communication intervention "Crianza Positiva" in Uruguay. On top of discussing her papers, we also talk about what it is like to conduct research in different continents and how to publish in top journals.  

• Guests: Ana Balsa (Professor at Universidad de Montevideo) 
• Hosts: Prithviraj Basumallik, Karen Trujillo Jara 

Timestamps: 

(01:08) - Introduction to the working paper "Mental Health Spillovers in Primary Schools" 

(10:00) - Discussion of the parenting behavioural change communication intervention "Crianza Positiva" in Uruguay 

(16:50) - How to publish in top journals?  

In today's episode Emeritus Professor Michael Drummond  converses with us about the origins of HE; its relevance; perspectives commonly used in economic evaluation; aspects such as equity in health care and tips for the PhD path.

• Guests:  M. Drummond (Emeritus professor at University of York) , Pieter van Baal & Vivian Reckers-Droog (Professors at ESHPM)
• Hosts:  Prithviraj Basumallik, María José Mendoza

Timestamps:

(08:06) - Health economics in the mid 60s 

(19:52) - First health economic evaluations and motivations to expand its scope

(50:18) - Equity in health care and HEEs in LMICs 

(58:49) - Recommendations for PhD students (writing tips, set of skills, labour market opportunities)

Additional resources:

• "Building a career in Health Economics" by Michael Drummond

Today's guest is our colleague and PhD candidate Jawa Issa. We discuss the main findings in her recent publication about income inequality in COVID-19 mortality in the Netherlands and, more broadly, her research about income inequality in mortality using data from other high-income countries like the US.  We also share some of our experiences at different health econ conferences!

• Guest: Jawa Issa
• Hosts: Prithviraj Basumallik, Fanny Tallgren, María-José Mendoza

Timestamps:

(01:02) - Income-related inequality in health in the NL and other higher-income settings

(12:03) - Paper's findings (NL) 

(19:00) - Seminars/Conferences/networking tips 

Additional resources 

• [Link to publication]