During the uniquely anxious months of pregnancy and early years of parenthood, many turn to Professor of Economics Emily Oster鈥檚 data-based books.
They ask themselves, 鈥淲hat would Emily do?鈥�
Oster has become a household name for 鈥淓xpecting Better鈥� and 鈥淐ribsheet,鈥� which mix data synthesis and personal stories to offer unconventional prenatal and parenting advice.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a weird thing to have, to be a person who thinks of themselves as just sitting in their office making graphs, writing papers, and then to have people think of you as someone who is in their life,鈥� Oster said in an interview with The Herald. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege.鈥�
Both of Oster鈥檚 parents are economists at Yale, but she wasn鈥檛 always set on joining the 鈥渇amily business.鈥� Yet economics continues to run in her family 鈥� her husband, Jesse Shapiro, is also a professor of economics at the University.
An鈥渋ll-fated summer鈥� spent in a fruit fly lab early in her undergraduate career turned Oster away from wet lab biology research. Though she entered college set on studying a hard science, she shifted her focus to economics from that point on. Despite her personal distaste for the lab experience, it set her up to pursue her long-held interest in the ability to 鈥渃reate new knowledge.鈥�
Oster is a health economist 鈥� focusing on decision-making, causality and other economic principles in relation to medicine and healthcare systems. Throughout her career, Oster has forged interdisciplinary relationships with medical professionals. For example, she studied Huntington鈥檚 disease and genetic testing alongside neurologists. In writing her popular books, she partnered with an obstetrician for her first book and a pediatrician for her second. Recently, she has been doing听 academic work on 鈥渂iases in observational data that are created by recommendations.鈥�
Oster鈥檚 first book, 鈥淓xpecting Better,鈥� was released in 2013. During her first pregnancy, she set out to make sense of the common rules that pregnant women often follow, but rarely question. New York Times bestseller 鈥淐ribsheet,鈥� released this year, has a similar premise, and it essentially picks up where 鈥淓xpecting Better鈥� left off 鈥� in the delivery room. At the end of 鈥淐ribsheet鈥檚" introduction, Oster writes, 鈥淭he goal of this book is not to fight against any particular piece of advice, but against the idea of not explaining why.鈥�
Since 2013, 鈥淓xpecting Better鈥� has only become more popular. 鈥淢ore people started reading it. 鈥� People liked it and passed it to their friends,鈥� she said.
The book鈥檚 popularity was again reborn when then-pregnant stand-up comedian Amy Schumer endorsed 鈥淓xpecting Better鈥� a few months before 鈥淐ribsheet鈥� was set to be released. In an Instagram post in April, Schumer wrote that Oster 鈥済ot (her) through pregnancy.鈥� She later interviewed Oster on her Spotify podcast, where she thanked 鈥淓xpecting Better鈥� for 鈥渟hining a light on the truth.鈥�
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 pay for that kind of publicity,鈥� Oster said.
Schumer is not the only new mother to find solace in Oster鈥檚 books. Both books are considered relatable and informative 鈥� they allow for meditation on facts alongside Oster鈥檚 personal, sometimes comedic, anecdotes about her life, pregnancies and experience raising her children. Schumer called Oster 鈥渢he non-judgmental girlfriend holding our hand and guiding us through pregnancy and motherhood.鈥�
鈥淐ribsheet鈥� covers a wide range of topics about childbirth and child-rearing 鈥� from breastfeeding to vaccinations, language development, potty training and the general stresses of parenting, among many others. 鈥淎 fairly large number of (the topics) were things I thought about or struggled with when I had my kids.鈥� She also worked with focus groups to determine what else parents were wondering.
鈥淚 do a lot of research 鈥� thinking about my parenting in a way that is informative about the books and that is informative of my own experiences.鈥� Today, her two children are past the preschool-age scope of 鈥淐ribsheet.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 now lost. I just do whatever,鈥� Oster joked.
As she was experiencing pregnancy for the first time while writing 鈥淓xpecting Better,鈥� Oster was just as surprised by some of her claims as her readers were. For example, on the topic of bed rest, she had initially thought, 鈥渕aybe it wasn鈥檛 always a good idea, but it was often a good idea.鈥� Instead, she found that 鈥渋t is more or less never a good idea,鈥� and her review of present data challenged a long-held medical convention. Research for 鈥淐ribsheet鈥� didn鈥檛 bring about as many shocking twists, Oster said, because parenting advice is usually less prescriptive.
Although her books are both based on existing research, Oster relied on her own health economics background to make sense of the material and weave the data together in a way that made it both colloquial and academically rigorous. In terms of doing research for her books, 鈥渢here鈥檚 鈥� a little piece of creating new knowledge,鈥� Oster said. 鈥淏ut I think a lot of what is challenging about that is 鈥� that I鈥檓 trying to think about how to synthesize that knowledge in a way that lets people engage with it and understand it.鈥�
Oster has been able to interact with her readers through events and through social media platforms like Twitter, where she goes by @ProfEmilyOster. 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely an Econ Twitter 鈥� world. I think it鈥檚 actually a super interesting way to think about getting research out there,鈥� she said. Oster uses Twitter to meld her different lives together. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of uncurated,鈥� she said. Her profile鈥檚 feed is composed of tweets about her children, her academic papers, economic principles in general 鈥� and all of those fragments help her formulate connections with others in her field or fans of her books.
Oster is already well-connected in the academic world of applied economics. In mid-October, it was announced that her graduate school thesis advisor, Michael Kremer, an economist and professor of developing societies at Harvard, won the Nobel Prize in Economics.
鈥淲hen your graduate school advisor wins a Nobel prize, that鈥檚 awesome,鈥� she said. Oster worked for Kremer before she officially started grad school, and that winter he asked her to spend a few days over Christmas drafting a paper on a tight deadline.听 鈥淚 got a chance to do that, and (now) that paper is cited in the Nobel Citation.鈥�
Beyond educating the public, Oster has taught a variety of courses at Brown, and will be teaching a new course in spring 2020 called ECON 1430: 鈥淭he Economics of Social Policy.鈥�
Oster recommends that students engage in research. 鈥淭here is this sort of special moment in research, where you kind of know something, or you see an insight or make a connection that no one has made before.鈥�
