Zach Y. Brown
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Michigan

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at University of Michigan and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. My research interests are in industrial organization and applied microeconomics. I am particularly interested in healthcare and digital markets.

I am visiting NYU in Fall 2025.

Curriculum Vitae

zachb@umich.edu
266 Lorch Hall, 611 Tappan Ave
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Published and Forthcoming

Equilibrium Effects of Health Care Price Information

Review of Economics and Statistics, October 2019, 101(4): 699–712.
Media: The Conversation, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal

Product Proliferation under Rational Inattention: Application to Health Insurance

with Jihye Jeon
AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021, 111: 554-59.

Competition in Pricing Algorithms

with Alexander MacKay
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, May 2023, 15(2): 109-56.
AEJ Best Paper Award
Media: Brookings, NPR, Financial Times, HBS, New Statesman, Fortune

Hospital Facility Prices Declined As A Result Of Oregon’s Hospital Payment Cap

with Roslyn Murray, Sarah Miller, Edward Norton, & Andrew Ryan
Health Affairs, March 2024, 43(3): 424-432.

Endogenous Information and Simplifying Insurance Choice

with Jihye Jeon
Econometrica, May 2024, 92(3): 881-911.

Broadband Internet Access and Health Outcomes: Patient and Provider Responses in Medicare

with Jessica Van Parys
International Journal of Industrial Organization, July 2024, 95.

Market Structure and Extortion: Evidence from 50,000 Extortion Payments

with Eduardo Montero, Carlos Schmidt-Padilla, & Maria Micaela Sviatschi
Review of Economic Studies, May 2025, 92(3): 1595-1624.
Media: The Guardian, ProMarket, El Diario de Hoy

Working Papers

Information and Disparities in Health Care Quality: Evidence from GP Choice in England

with Chris Hansman, Jordan Keener, & Andre Veiga
Reject & resubmit, American Economic Review
Media: VoxEU, Forbes

Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market

with Mark Egan, Jihye Jeon, Chuqing Jin, & Alex Wu

An Empirical Model of Price Transparency and Markups in Health Care

Revise & resubmit, Journal of Political Economy

Algorithmic Coercion with Faster Pricing

with Alexander MacKay

Insurer Competition and Quality-of-Care in Medicaid Managed Care Markets

with Jessica Van Parys
Work in progress

Zach Y. Brown Associate Professor of Economics, University of Michigan

Published and Forthcoming

Working Papers

Teaching

Zach Y. Brown
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Michigan