2024-25 University Lecture
Why Not Better and Cheaper? Healthcare and Innovation
Presented by James Rebitzer,
Peter and Deborah Weller Professor of Management
Questrom School of Business
James Rebitzer is the Peter and Deborah Wexler Professor of Management at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, where he was the founding chair of the Department of Markets, Public Policy, and Law. Rebitzer was previously the Mannix Professor of Healthcare Finance and Economics and chair of the economics department at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University. Before that, Rebitzer was an associate professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin.
Rebitzer’s research and teaching at BU focus on managerial issues in the US health sector, especially the economics of financial and non-financial incentives for physicians and other key players in the US healthcare system. He has also published papers on the causes and consequences of fragmentation in healthcare delivery systems and insurance markets. Most recently, Rebitzer published a book on technological and organizational innovation in the health sector. He is also working on a project analyzing the economics of pharmacy benefit managers. At BU, Rebitzer has taught courses on the economics of managerial decision-making and strategy, as well as classes on strategy, economics, and policy in the US health sector. Prior to BU, Rebitzer taught courses on a variety of applied microeconomics topics including labor economics, organizational economics, and human resource management.
Rebitzer’s research has received the Health Care Research Award from the National Institute of Health Care Management and the Kenneth J. Arrow Award from the International Health Economics Association. He is currently a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor. He also has a courtesy appointment in BU’s economics department.