William Dow

Research Bio

William Dow is a health economist whose research investigates population health, health policy, and economic determinants of well-being. He is best known for evaluating health policy reforms, aging policy, and interventions that reduce health disparities in the United States and developing countries. Dow’s research integrates economics, public health, and population science to understand how social and financial policies influence health outcomes. His work contributes to improving health systems and promoting healthcare access and health outcomes in vulnerable populations.

At Berkeley he is Professor in the School of Public Health and the Department of Demography. He directs UC Berkeley’s NIH-funded Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging, and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously served as Interim Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and as Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He holds a PhD in economics from Yale University, and teaches health economics and policy analysis, mentoring students in applied health economics and aging research.

Research Expertise and Interest

health economics, global health, economic demography

In the News

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.
August 12, 2020

California Paid a Price For Mask Shortage in Dollars and Lives, Coronavirus Study Finds

Los Angeles Times
Melody Gutierrez
If California had stockpiled enough masks and other protective equipment, at least 15,800 essential workers would not have contracted COVID-19, and the state would have saved $93 million weekly on unemployment claims, according to a UC Berkeley Labor Center report issued this week. "It was one shocking number after another as I looked at this," said report co-author William Dow, a professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. "Based on these numbers, we should be building a stockpile for the future."
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April 30, 2019

Researchers say there's a simple way to reduce suicides: Increase the minimum wage

Washington Post
Andrew Van Dam
An analysis of death data from 1999-2015 suggests that raising the minimum wage and earned-income tax credit by 10 percent could prevent about 1,230 suicides -- or "deaths of despair" -- a year in the U.S. The national suicide rate has risen 35 percent since 2000, and the researchers found that the rates fell in states that increased their minimum wage or the tax credit for working class families. "When they implement these policies, suicides fall very quickly," says study co-author Anna Godoey, a labor economist and postdoctoral scholar at the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics at Berkeley's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. The study was published in the National Bureau of Economic Research. Co-authors included economics professor Michael Reich, chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics, public-health professor William Dow, and doctoral public health student Christopher Lowenstein. For more on this, see our story at Berkeley News. Other stories on this topic appeared in Forbes, New York Magazine, and Business Insider UK.
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September 19, 2018

Restaurant jobs warm up to parents with paid family leave, new attitudes

San Francisco Chronicle
Tara Duggan
San Francisco's Paid Parental Leave Ordinance, enacted at the beginning of 2017, has led to more of the city's fathers taking "bonding" leave after the birth of a child, according to an analysis led by Interim Public Health Dean William Dow. The researchers found that in the first half of 2017, 28 percent more men took the leave, compared to the first half of 2016; and the increase among women was 6 percent.
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