Emily Oster Quotes

Powerful Emily Oster for Daily Growth

About Emily Oster

Emily Oster is an American economist and professor at Brown University, known for her work on public health and behavioral economics, particularly in relation to pregnancy and parenting decisions. Born on May 17, 1982, in New York City, Oster grew up in a family of academics. Her mother is an economist, and her father is a statistician. This academic environment likely played a significant role in shaping her interest in research and data analysis. Oster earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University in 2004 and her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 2009. During her time at the University of Chicago, she began conducting research on consumer decision-making, focusing on how people make choices about health-related behaviors. In 2013, Oster published her first book, "Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong – and What You Really Need to Know," which became a New York Times bestseller. The book aimed to debunk common pregnancy myths by using data and statistical analysis to provide evidence-based advice for expectant parents. Oster followed up her debut with "Crazy Fresh: A Mother's Guide to Sushi" in 2015, where she applied similar analytical methods to the question of whether it is safe to eat sushi while pregnant. In 2020, she published "The Family Firm: A Data-Driven Guide to Parental Choice and Its Limits," which explored parenting decisions in light of economic theory and empirical evidence. Oster's work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal. She continues her research at Brown University, focusing on various aspects of public health and behavioral economics, while also actively sharing her findings with the general public through books and articles.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Fear is not a good reason to make decisions."

Emily Oster's quote, "Fear is not a good reason to make decisions," emphasizes that fear should not be the primary driver when making important choices or decisions in life. Instead, it encourages individuals to approach situations with rationality, critical thinking, and accurate information, to ensure well-informed and sensible decision-making. Fear can often cloud judgment and lead to irrational actions, so it's essential to evaluate situations objectively and consider the potential risks and benefits before acting.

"Evidence isn't always perfect, but it's better than guessing."

This quote emphasizes the importance of evidence and data in making informed decisions over relying on mere speculation or assumptions. In other words, while evidence may not always be flawless, it provides a more reliable basis for understanding and navigating our world compared to unfounded guesses or intuition. It encourages us to seek knowledge, study facts, and use evidence in order to make wise choices and minimize uncertainty.

"The key to making informed decisions is understanding that no decision is risk-free."

Emily Oster's quote emphasizes that every decision we make, regardless of how carefully considered it may be, carries some level of inherent risk. This realization encourages us to approach decision-making with a mindset of informed understanding, acknowledging the potential risks involved while also seeking to minimize them as much as possible. It serves as a reminder that wisdom lies in understanding both the benefits and drawbacks of our choices, enabling us to make more thoughtful decisions overall.

"It's important to remember that every choice you make involves some level of risk."

This quote emphasizes that every decision, no matter how small or large, carries an inherent degree of risk. It underscores the importance of understanding and weighing potential risks when making choices, which can help individuals make informed decisions that best suit their needs and circumstances.

"Parenting is a complex job, and we can't always control the outcomes, but we can make informed choices about the risks we take."

This quote emphasizes that parenting involves making decisions amidst complexity, uncertainty, and sometimes uncontrollable circumstances. However, it also implies that parents have the power to educate themselves and make informed decisions based on an understanding of potential risks, rather than acting solely out of fear or ignorance. In essence, the quote encourages a proactive, well-informed approach to parenting.

No one likes doing chores. In happiness surveys, housework is ranked down there with commuting as activities that people enjoy the least. Maybe that's why figuring out who does which chores usually prompts, at best, tense discussion in a household and, at worst, outright fighting.

- Emily Oster

Doing, Maybe, Least, Surveys

Even though it is the case that poverty is linked to AIDS, in the sense that Africa is poor and they have a lot of AIDS, it's not necessarily the case that improving poverty - at least in the short run, that improving exports and improving development - it's not necessarily the case that that's going to lead to a decline in HIV prevalence.

- Emily Oster

Development, Africa, Though, HIV

Young women who live in areas with high maternal mortality change their behavior less in response to HIV than young women who live in areas with low maternal mortality.

- Emily Oster

Change, Young, Young Women, HIV

The key to good decision making is evaluating the available information - the data - and combining it with your own estimates of pluses and minuses. As an economist, I do this every day.

- Emily Oster

Decision, Data, Making, Economist

When I meet people on airplanes and they find out I'm an economist, they usually ask about stock tips.

- Emily Oster

People, About, Tips, Economist

The claim that SpongeBob makes your child dumber is a causal claim. If you do X, Y will happen. To prove that, you'd have to show that if you forced the children in the no-TV households to watch SpongeBob and changed nothing else about their lives, they would do worse in school.

- Emily Oster

Your Child, Prove, Forced, Households

The basic idea that incentives can be used to motivate behavior is a powerful one. It works for employees, and it has a clear place in parenting, as anyone who has tried to potty-train a recalcitrant toddler with sticker rewards knows.

- Emily Oster

Clear, Idea, Works, Sticker

Even if you are planning a birth with an epidural, the evidence suggests that a doula can help make things go much more smoothly.

- Emily Oster

Go, More, Evidence, Smoothly

How much is an hour of your time worth? It's worth whatever wage you would get if you spent that hour working. If you work for an hourly rate, this is an easy calculation. Even if you work for a salary and a fixed number of hours, the principle is the same: It's whatever your salary works out to per hour.

- Emily Oster

Principle, Your, Calculation, Fixed

To put it mildly, I'm not crazy about the implication that pregnant women are incapable of deciding for themselves.

- Emily Oster

Deciding, About, Put, Incapable

For many women - myself included - pregnancy brings on tremendous anxiety and confusion, along with the joy.

- Emily Oster

Anxiety, Along, Brings, Confusion

Economists actually disagree about whether there are significant economic returns from attending an elite college versus a less-selective one.

- Emily Oster

College, Significant, About, Versus

Lovingly crafted and super-creative cupcakes are not exactly on tap in my household after a full day at work, and I do not blame my mother for a second that they were not on tap in hers, either.

- Emily Oster

Work, Tap, Crafted, Lovingly

I travel a fair amount, read on the plane, and I read fast.

- Emily Oster

Plane, Amount, Read, Fair Amount

Feminists of my mother's generation argued that both mom and dad should work a little less and each do some of the household chores. My parents, for example, split everything 50/50. Even though my father is a terrible cook, he still made dinner exactly half the time.

- Emily Oster

Some, Argued, Half, Half The Time

In short, humans are programmed to get bored.

- Emily Oster

Short, Get, Humans, Programmed

I think women - relative to men - tend to feel that they have to do the household chores on top of everything else. This becomes even worse once you have kids. It's enough to have a full time job; a full time job plus a family is even more.

- Emily Oster

Feel, I Think, Tend, Everything Else

Good household decision-making often relies on thinking about your household like a firm.

- Emily Oster

Like, About, Firm, Decision-Making

Adhering to budgeting rules shouldn't trump good decision-making.

- Emily Oster

Rules, Trump, Adhering, Decision-Making

If you have a traditional view of economics, you're probably thinking of Ben Bernanke making Fed policy, or the guys creating financial derivatives at Goldman Sachs.

- Emily Oster

Financial, Making, Fed, Goldman Sachs

If everyone is good at something different, assigning chores is easy. If your partner is great at grocery shopping and you are great at the laundry, you're set. But this isn't always - or even usually - the case.

- Emily Oster

Always, Everyone, Set, Shopping

The enjoyment of work - to the extent that you have any - is likely highest in the first hours of the day when you are fresh, not tired, working on the most important things.

- Emily Oster

Hours, Extent, Likely, Fresh

Economics works great for planning your life when you don't have a work passion, since we tend to assume that your job delivers only money and you trade off job hours with leisure hours. If you think your job will just be a job, pick one that pays well per hour and leaves you some time off, even if the activity of the job is boring.

- Emily Oster

Some, Activity, Works, Assume

Nausea is a normal but unpleasant effect of pregnancy and a really good sign that it is going well. Women who experience nausea in early pregnancy are less likely to miscarry.

- Emily Oster

Normal, Going, Likely, Good Sign

Prenatal testing is a complicated decision for many women, forcing us to confront concerns about a disabled child and risks of miscarriage.

- Emily Oster

Decision, Testing, Confront, Disabled

The biggest food-related risk in pregnancy is listeria. It's a dangerous bacteria, to which pregnant women are especially susceptible, that can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth.

- Emily Oster

Pregnancy, Bacteria, Which, Women Are

Every time you have a carrot instead of a cookie, every time you go to the gym instead of going to the movies, that's a costly investment in your health. But how much you want to invest is going to depend on how much longer you expect to live in the future, even if you don't make those investments.

- Emily Oster

Depend, Invest, Your, Costly

I tell my micro students everything I teach them is important, but the truth is that some things are more useful than others, and opportunity cost is near the top.

- Emily Oster

More, Some, Cost, Micro

Much of what I do in my job is think about whether relationships we see in data are causal, as opposed to just reflecting correlations. It's exactly these issues which come up in evaluating studies in public health.

- Emily Oster

Data, Reflecting, About, Studies

There is some risk to increase birth defects if you do a lot of outdoor gardening when you are pregnant. That can increase rates of toxoplasmosis.

- Emily Oster

Gardening, Some, Rates, Outdoor

Almost every woman I have spoken to about pregnancy has a story about her doctor giving her a hard time about her weight. Later in my pregnancy it felt like all of my time with my doctor was focused on how fat I was getting - so fat!

- Emily Oster

Woman, About, Almost, Pregnancy

I think we've moved to thinking of parenting and pregnancy as something in which you should lose yourself.

- Emily Oster

Think, I Think, Which, Pregnancy

I think that there's a real sense in which pregnancy should be something that you do with your doctor, but I think that for a lot of women the time you have with your doctors is limited and it can be difficult to get all of the answers to your questions.

- Emily Oster

Think, I Think, Which, Pregnancy

One of the big take-aways from a lot of economic theory is that people should engage in consumption smoothing.

- Emily Oster

People, Big, Consumption, Engage

Being pregnant was a lot like being a child again. There was always someone telling you what to do.

- Emily Oster

Always, Telling, Lot, Being Pregnant

I had always been told that you shouldn't clean the litter box when you're pregnant, because of your cat. And I think that is overblown - unless you have, like, three kittens in your house that are living outside and eating raw meat, this shouldn't really be a significant source of concern.

- Emily Oster

Been, I Think, Had, Pregnant

Economists typically think that your happiness goes up as you get more money, but the more you have, the less each additional dollar matters. This means that you value money most in times when you have less income and more expenses.

- Emily Oster

Think, Income, Means, Dollar

I am extremely devoted to Amazon Prime - which offers speedier free deliveries, free movie streaming and other benefits for an annual fee - but I don't think it is great for groceries.

- Emily Oster

Prime, Which, Offers, Streaming

The main concern with a very large baby is difficulty in delivery.

- Emily Oster

Difficulty, Delivery, Very, Concern

My first summer in college I worked in a fruit fly lab where I had two jobs: dissect the fruit fly larvae brains and incinerate the old tubes of flies.

- Emily Oster

College, Fruit, Flies, Dissect

I've always loved doing research. I remember doing a research project on the Babylonian numeral system in the eighth grade and thinking, 'This is pretty awesome - is this really a job you can have?' This led me toward a career as an academic, although it took me until college to realise that economics was the right field.

- Emily Oster

College, Doing, I Remember, Eighth

The greatest moments are those when you see the result pop up in a graph or in your statistics analysis - that moment you realise you know something no one else does and you get the pleasure of thinking about how to tell them.

- Emily Oster

Tell, About, Your, Statistics

If you asked me which gives me more joy, my work or my family, there is no question that it's my family. Hands down. If I had to give one up, it wouldn't even be a contest.

- Emily Oster

Give, Which, No Question, Contest

The value of having numbers - data - is that they aren't subject to someone else's interpretation. They are just the numbers. You can decide what they mean for you.

- Emily Oster

Data, Having, Subject, Interpretation

Because economics is all about optimising, doing the best you can with what you have - it's usually the first place you should look for answers if you want to maximise your happiness.

- Emily Oster

Doing, Want, About, Answers

Talking to women about birth can be polarizing.

- Emily Oster

Birth, Talking, About, Polarizing

You work hard for your income, and that hard work is what fuels the economy.

- Emily Oster

Work, Work Hard, Fuels, Income

All's fair in love and purchasing.

- Emily Oster

Love, Fair, Purchasing

As people do a task, they improve at it.

- Emily Oster

People, Improve, Task

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