As U.S. health care spending continues to escalate, there is a vigorous debate about whether that extra cash is purchasing better health. Some feel the increased spending is driven by innovations in medical technology that significantly improve outcomes. Others believe health care costs are rising because money is being wasted on unnecessary treatment. Jonathan S. Skinner, Ph.D., believes that the relationship of cost to quality of care depends on where one lives and on who provides the care. He sees productivity and availability of technology as varying dramatically among different regions and providers. Dr. Skinner's project, Productivity and Technology Diffusion in Health Care, analyzes the treatment of heart attack patients since 1986, the use of cardiac stents, how variations in technology lead to health care disparities, and the link between technological progress and health care costs. Dr. Skinner's work should offer revealing insights into how medical technology is distributed through the health system and the effects on expenditures and health outcomes.

Jonathan Skinner is the John Sloan Dickey Third Century Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College and a professor in the department of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, where he works in the Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences. He is also a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, MA and the editor of the Journal of Human Resources. Professor Skinner was elected to the Insitute of Medicine in 2007. He was a recipient of the first TIAA/CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award of Excellence in 1996. Prior to moving to Dartmouth, he was a professor of economics at the University of Virginia. His research interests include the economics of government transfer programs, technology growth in health care, savings behavior of aging baby boomers, and the efficiency and equity of the US Medicare program. Professor Skinner graduated from the University of Rochester (B.A.) and UCLA (Ph.D.).