David Hemenway

David Hemenway is Professor of Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. He has a B.A. (1966) and Ph.D.(1974) from Harvard University in economics. He is the director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center. He is also currently a James Marsh Visiting Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont.^[1] Dr. Hemenway has written over 130 articles and five books in the fields of economics and public health.

Books

His most recent book, While We Were Sleeping: Success Stories in Injury and Violence Prevention (2009) describes more than sixty successes, and over thirty heroes who have made the world safer. Private Guns Public Health (2006) describes the public health approach to reducing firearm violence, and summarizes scientific research on firearms and health.

Prices and Choices (3rd edition) (1993) is a collection of twenty-six of his original essays applying microeconomic theory to everyday life. Monitoring and Compliance: the Political Economy of Inspection (1985) describes the importance of inspection processes in ensuring that regulations are followed, and the reasons the system often fails. Industry-wide Voluntary Product Standards (1975) describes the role of voluntary standards and standardization in the U.S. economy.

Economics Research

Dr. Hemenway described in several articles a general reason why low-risk individuals often buy insurance,^[2] and coined the term “propitious selection.”^[3] Recent economic studies have focused on empirically determining which goods are more and less positional (e.g., bought largely to “keep up with the Joneses”).^{[4][5] [6]} An early statistics article, Why Your Classes are Larger than Average, has been anthologized in various mathematical collections.^{[7] [8]}

Injury Prevention Research

Dr. Hemenway has written widely on injury prevention, including articles on firearms, violence, suicide, child abuse, motor vehicle crashes, fires, falls and fractures.^[9] He headed the pilot for what became the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's National Violent Death Reporting System, which provides detailed and comparable information on suicide and homicide.^[10]

Other

He briefly appeared in clothing ads in The New Yorker and New York Magazine.

He has won ten teaching awards at the Harvard School of Public Health.^[9]

Dr. Hemenway lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his wife, Michelle Schaffer, an attorney, and their daughter Audrey.

References

• (General reference for this page) Harvard Injury Control Center Director webpage

1. ^ UVT Press release
2. ^ e.g. Hemenway D. Propitious selection. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 1990; 105: 1063-69 and Hemenway D. Propitious selection in insurance. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 1992; 5:247-51.
3. ^ e.g. Siegelman P. Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets: An Exaggerated Threat. The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 113, No. 6 (Apr 2004), pp. 1223-1281 and Donder P, Hindriks J Adverse selection, moral hazard and propitious selection Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 2009; 38(1): 73-86.
4. ^ Solnick SJ, Hemenway D. Are positional concerns stronger in some domains than in others? American Economic Review. 2005; 95(2):147-51.
5. ^ Solnick SJ, Hemenway D. Positional goods in the United States and China. Journal of Socio-Economics. 2007; 36:537-45.
6. ^ Solnick SJ, Hemenway D. Do Spending Comparisons Affect Spending and Satisfaction? Journal of Socio-Economics. in press.
7. ^ Alexanderson GL (ed). The Harmony of the World: 75 Years of Mathematics Magazine. Mathematical Association of America, 2007.
8. ^ Dudley U (ed). Is Mathematics Inevitable? Mathematics Association of America, 2008.
9. ^ ^{a b} Curriculum Vitae available at faculty webpage.
10. ^ Magazine article on Hemenway and the National Violent Death Reporting System pilot

External links

• Harvard University Faculty Page
• Harvard Injury Control Research Center
• Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center
• While We Were Sleeping
• Private Guns Public Health
• Prices and Choices

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Name	Hemenway, David
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Date of birth	1945
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