Mariana Carrera

The research interests of Mariana Carrera, PhD, lie in the fields of health economics and behavioral economics. Within these fields, Carrera further examines three main areas. The first is agency problems in healthcare, with a focus on physician prescribing decisions. Carrera is investigating how physicians respond to patient co-payments when choosing which drug to prescribe and how the complex variation in co-payments across insurance plans can obstruct their response. Second, she is interested in how consumers learn from new information and from social norms, with a focus on health-related decisions. A third area of research is examining how insights from behavioral economics can help improve health behavior with a focus on employer wellness programs. One of her current projects in this area centers on commitment devices for exercise and for healthy eating.

Carrera received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. She has published in the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MANAGED CARE and has numerous working papers based on the above research. Carrera is the recipient of several Weatherhead School of Management Intramural Funding research grants and has also received a research grant from the National Institute of Health.

In 2015, Carrera was honored with a Teaching Award from the Wolstein Society, and in 2014, she was nominated for the Weatherhead Undergraduate Teaching Award. Since joining the faculty as assistant professor of economics in 2011, Carrera has taught courses including Economic Behavior and Psychology, Principles of Microeconomics, and Econometrics.

The Weatherhead School of Management is different from other business schools. We are bold in our ideas, creative in our approach, and adaptive in our interactions within a changing business environment. We''ve enhanced traditional management education by integrating the fundamentals of business with ideas and practices that change individuals, organizations and societies. At Weatherhead, we develop leaders as good global citizens who innovate to create sustainable value.