Alice Chen

Biography

Alice Chen is an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Vice Dean for Research at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Her research focuses on improving the efficiency of health care markets. She examines how providers respond to financial incentives, studies how regulation affects pharmaceutical markets, and considers how health spending affects health and labor indicators.

Published in leading economics, policy, and medical journals, her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and cited in major media outlets, including CBS News, CNN, Forbes, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others. Dr. Chen has also presented her work broadly, including at the Congressional Budget Office, Federal Trade Commission, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation’s advisory committee meetings. She currently serves as co-editor of the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

At USC Price, Dr. Chen teaches health economics and health finance. In 2016, she was awarded Outstanding Faculty of the Year by the USC Health Administration Graduate Program.

Prior to earning her MBA and PhD in business economics from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Dr. Chen graduated with an BA and MS in applied math from Harvard University.

Selected Publications

• Axeen, S., Chen, A. J., Lakdawalla, D. N., Masia, N., Niyazov, A., Arondekar, B., & Freedland, S. J. (2025). Do trial benefits predict real-world gains in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. JNCI Cancer Spectrum, 9(2).
• Chen, A., & Li, J. (2024). Paying for advance care planning in Medicare: Impacts on Care and spending near end of life. Journal of Health Economics, 98:102921. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2024.102921.
• Chen, A. J., Munnich, E. L., Parente, S. T., & Richards, M. R. (2023). Provider turf wars and Medicare payment rules. Journal of Public Economics, 218, 104812.