Daniel Kessler

Research Statement

Professor Kessler's research interests include empirical studies in antitrust law, law and economics, and the economics of health care. His recent work focuses on the consequences of hospital mergers and hospital ownership (nonprofit versus for-profit) for the cost and quality of medical care. His new book, "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System" (with John Cogan and R. Glenn Hubbard), outlines how market-based health care reform in the U.S. can help fix our system's current problems. Currently, he is investigating how to use medical claims data to identify the types of health care providers that are likely to commit Medicare fraud and abuse.

Bio

Daniel Kessler is a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a professor at Stanford Law School, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research interests include empirical studies in antitrust law, law and economics, and the economics of health care.

He holds a PhD in economics from M.I.T. and a law degree from Stanford. He has won awards for his advising and research from Stanford, the National Institute of Health Care Management Foundation, and the International Health Economics Association. He has received grants from the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the California Health Care Foundation. He has served as a consultant to corporations, foundations, and the governments of the United States and Canada. He has taught courses in health economics, public policy, and antitrust law at Stanford and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published numerous papers in economics journals and law reviews. He has also written extensively on health care reform for the Wall Street Journal and Health Affairs.

His new book, Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Five Steps to a Better Health Care System (with John Cogan and R. Glenn Hubbard), outlines how market-based health care reform in the U.S. can help fix our system’s current problems. Currently, he is investigating how to use medical claims data to identify the types of health care providers that are likely to commit Medicare fraud and abuse.

Academic Degrees

• PhD, MIT, 1994
• JD, Stanford University, 1993
• AB, Harvard University, 1988

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 1994
• Professor of Economics, Law, and Policy, Stanford GSB
• Professor of Law, School of Law, Stanford Law School

Teaching

Degree Courses

2018-19

MGTECON 331: Health Law: Finance and Insurance

This course provides the legal, institutional, and economic background necessary to understand the financing and production of health services in the US. Potential topics include: health reform, health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid, employer-...

2017-18

MGTECON 331: Health Law: Finance and Insurance

This course provides the legal, institutional, and economic background necessary to understand the financing and production of health services in the US. Potential topics include: health reform, health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid, employer-...

2016-17

MGTECON 331: Health Law: Finance and Insurance

This course provides the legal, institutional, and economic background necessary to understand the financing and production of health services in the US. Potential topics include: health reform, health insurance (Medicare and Medicaid, employer-...

In the Media

Phantom Savings

Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2012

In the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Kessler argues that key parts of Obama's health care plan have already failed.

Health Plan to Revive Debate

Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2006

Physician Shortage in Pennsylvania?

Physicians News Digest, September 2005

For-Profit Hospitals Lead to Gains in Productivity

Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune, August 29, 2003

Doctors' Fear of Lawsuits May Hurt Care

Reuters News, June 2003

U.S. Consumers: Not So Broke

Bloomberg Businessweek, April 31, 2002

Robbing Smokers to Pay Lawyers

Wall Street Journal, May 7, 1998

Health Economicst Wins Award for Study of Defensive Medicine

Stanford Report, February 21, 1998

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenDaniel P. Kessler: The Hidden Cost in Changing Doctors

June 29, 2015

High fees for your own medical records can be a barrier to switching.

writtenDaniel Kessler: The Anti-Competitive Risk of “Accountable Care”

June 5, 2015

Stanford researchers find that vertically integrated healthcare systems charge higher prices.

writtenResearchers: A New Tax Plan for Saving Our Health Care Dollars

January 7, 2013

A group of top health care economists propose a system that eliminates incentives to spend more at every turn.

writtenDaniel Kessler: Evaluating Options for Reform of the Medical Malpractice System

April 9, 2011

Evidence from several studies suggests that wisely chosen malpractice reforms have the potential to reduce health care spending significantly with no adverse impact on patient health outcomes.

writtenWho Is Paying for Uninsured Medical Patients?

June 1, 2007

A scholar says the costs of caring for uninsured or indigent patients don't impose a heavy burden on private health care costs.

writtenIs Hospital Competition Socially Wasteful?

August 1, 2000

A study finds that competition was good for a group of acutely ill patients, in part because of managed care efficiencies.