William H. ​Dow, PhD

Professor, Health Policy and Management
  • Director, Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging
  • Professor, Department of Demography

William H. Dow is a Professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health, as well as Professor in the Department of Demography. His research contributes to improvements in health policy and healthy aging among vulnerable populations locally and globally.
Phone: (510) 643-6841
Available for Advising
Address: 2121 Berkeley Way #5429
Berkeley, CA 94720-7360

Biography

William H. Dow is a Professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health, as well as Professor in the Department of Demography.

Dow, a celebrated scholar of the economic aspects of health insurance, health behaviors, and health and demographic outcomes, joined the Berkeley faculty in 2004. Since 2005, he has been the founding associate director of the Berkeley Population Center and, since 2013, the director of the Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging. He has also served at the School as division head of Health Policy and Management and as the associate dean for research, and in 2018-19 served as Interim Dean of the School of Public Health. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and previously served as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Dow’s research contributes to improvements in health policy and healthy aging among vulnerable populations locally and globally. He has led teams analyzing California’s pathbreaking health insurance reforms and paid leave policies, as well as teams designing innovative behavioral economic strategies for preventing HIV and promoting behavior change such as smoking cessation. His global work includes serving as principal investigator of the premier team studying determinants of Costa Rican’s exceptional longevity, as well as projects in Cuba, Mexico, Tanzania and Japan.

Research Interests

  • Health Economics
  • Global Health
  • Economic Demography

Education

  • PhD – Economics
    Yale University
  • BA – Economics, Summa Cum Laude
    Cornell University

Publications

Courses Taught

    • PH 226C
    • Economics of Population Health

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