Bio

Gopi Shah Goda is a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Associate Professor of Health Policy (by courtesy) and Professor of Economics (by courtesy) at Stanford University. Gopi served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers from July 2021 to July 2022. She is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, and served as SIEPR's Deputy Director from September 2016 to July 2021.

Gopi’s research focuses on the well-being of individuals as they age, the sustainability of public programs serving elderly and vulnerable populations, and the broader implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and labor supply. Her recent research studies examine the effects of long-term care insurance on family members’ work and location decisions, and how COVID-19 illness affects U.S. workers. Her work has appeared in a variety of leading economics journals, and has and has garnered coverage in major media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, the Guardian, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Gopi's research has been supported by the Social Security Administration, the National Institutes on Aging, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the TIAA Institute.

Prior to joining SIEPR, Gopi was a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar in Health Policy Research at Harvard University. She earned her PhD in economics from Stanford University in 2007 and her B.S. in mathematics and actuarial science from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2000.

Academic Appointments

Administrative Appointments

  • Deputy Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (2016 - 2021)

Links

2023-24 Courses

All Publications

  • Are retirement planning tools substitutes or complements to financial capability? JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR & ORGANIZATION Goda, G., Levy, M. R., Manchester, C., Sojourner, A., Tasoff, J., Xiao, J. 2023; 214: 561-573

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.08.001

    View details for Web of Science ID 001073494100001

  • Family spillovers and long-term care insurance. Journal of health economics Coe, N. B., Goda, G. S., Van Houtven, C. H. 2023; 90: 102781

    Abstract

    We examine how long-term care insurance (LTCI) affects informal care use and expectations among the insured individuals and co-residence and labor market outcomes of their adult children. We address the endogeneity of LTCI coverage by instrumenting for LTCI with changes in state tax treatment of LTCI insurance policies. We do not find evidence of reductions in informal care use over a horizon of approximately eight years. However, we find that LTCI coverage reduces parents' perceptions of the willingness of their children to care for them in the future and that the behavior of adult children changes, with LTCI resulting in lower likelihoods of adult children co-residing and stronger labor market attachment. These findings provide empirical support for the presence of spillovers of LTCI on the economic behaviors of family members.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2023.102781

    View details for PubMedID 37315472

  • The impacts of Covid-19 absences on workers. Journal of public economics Goda, G. S., Soltas, E. J. 2023; 222: 104889

    Abstract

    We show that Covid-19 illnesses and related work absences persistently reduce labor supply. Using an event study, we estimate that workers with week-long Covid-19 absences are 7 percentage points less likely to be in the labor force one year later compared to otherwise-similar workers who do not miss a week of work for health reasons. Our estimates suggest Covid-19 absences have reduced the U.S.labor force by approximately 500,000 people (0.2 percent of adults) and imply an average labor supply loss per Covid-19 absence equivalent to $9,000 in forgone earnings, about 90 percent of which reflects losses beyond the initial absence week.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104889

    View details for PubMedID 37152805

  • The prevalence and nature of COLAs in public sector retirement plans JOURNAL OF PENSION ECONOMICS & FINANCE Fitzpatrick, M. D., Goda, G. 2023

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S147474722300001X

    View details for Web of Science ID 000968976800001

  • Temporary and permanent effects of withdrawal penalties on retirement savings accounts JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS Goda, G., Jones, D., Ramnath, S. 2022; 215

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2022.104734

    View details for Web of Science ID 000867683200002

  • The impact of Covid-19 on older workers' employment and Social Security spillovers. Journal of population economics Goda, G. S., Jackson, E., Nicholas, L. H., Stith, S. S. 2022: 1-34

    Abstract

    The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major threat to health and economic well-being in the USA, especially for older and disabled workers, and may spill over onto Social Security. We use individual-level from the Current Population Survey, state-level monthly Social Security administrative data on disability benefit applications, and national-level monthly data on Social Security retirement benefit applications to assess the impact of the pandemic on older adults' employment and benefit claiming. State-level monthly Google Trends data are used as a leading indicator of future claiming in the population. We find that employment for older workers dropped substantially more than would have been predicted prior to the pandemic: employment for 50-61-year-olds was 5.7 pp (8.3 percent) lower, while employment for 62-70-year-olds was 3.9 pp (10.7 percent) lower. We find declines in labor force exit due to disability (4-5 percent), applications for disability insurance (15 percent), the average age of disability program applicants, and Google searches for disability (7 percent). We contrast with prior periods of economic downturn and explore potential mechanisms, finding evidence for both supply- and demand-side explanations.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00148-022-00915-z.

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s00148-022-00915-z

    View details for PubMedID 35814291

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9251032

  • Who is a passive saver under opt-in and auto-enrollment? JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR & ORGANIZATION Goda, G., Levy, M. R., Manchester, C., Sojourner, A., Tasoff, J. 2020; 173: 301–21

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jebo.2019.08.026

    View details for Web of Science ID 000534065100017

  • PREDICTING RETIREMENT SAVINGS USING SURVEY MEASURES OF EXPONENTIAL-GROWTH BIAS AND PRESENT BIAS ECONOMIC INQUIRY Goda, G., Levy, M., Manchester, C., Sojourner, A., Tasoff, J. 2019; 57 (3): 1636–58

    View details for DOI 10.1111/ecin.12792

    View details for Web of Science ID 000468630900023

  • THE EFFECTS OF THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT ON HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE AND LABOR MARKET OUTCOMES NATIONAL TAX JOURNAL Duggan, M., Goda, G., Jackson, E. 2019; 72 (2): 261–322

    View details for DOI 10.17310/ntj.2019.2.01

    View details for Web of Science ID 000471211000001

  • Work incentives in the Social Security Disability benefit formula JOURNAL OF PENSION ECONOMICS & FINANCE Goda, G., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S. 2019; 18 (2): 165–89

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S1474747218000136

    View details for Web of Science ID 000459034200001

  • HETEROGENEITY IN STATE-DEPENDENT UTILITY: EVIDENCE FROM STRATEGIC SURVEYS ECONOMIC INQUIRY Brown, J. R., Goda, G. S., McGarry, K. 2016; 54 (2): 847-861

    View details for DOI 10.1111/ecin.12313

    View details for Web of Science ID 000371227500009

  • What will my account really be worth? Experimental evidence on how retirement income projections affect saving JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS Goda, G. S., Manchester, C. F., Sojourner, A. J. 2014; 119: 80-92

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.08.005

    View details for Web of Science ID 000346893200008

  • Does widowhood explain gender differences in out-of-pocket medical spending among the elderly? JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS Goda, G. S., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S. N. 2013; 32 (3): 647-658

    Abstract

    Despite the presence of Medicare, out-of-pocket medical spending is a large expenditure risk facing the elderly. While women live longer than men, elderly women incur higher out-of-pocket medical spending than men at each age. In this paper, we examine whether differences in marital status and living arrangements can explain this difference. We find that out-of-pocket medical spending is approximately 24 percent higher when an individual becomes widowed, a large portion of which is spending on nursing homes. Our results suggest a substantial role of living arrangements in out-of-pocket medical spending. Our estimates combined with differences in rates of widowhood across gender suggest that marital status can explain about one third of the gender difference in total out-of-pocket medical spending, leaving a large portion unexplained. On the other hand, gender differences in widowhood more than explain the observed gender difference in out-of-pocket spending on nursing homes.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2012.10.011

    View details for Web of Science ID 000319238100013

    View details for PubMedID 23477686

  • Does Stock Market Performance Influence Retirement Intentions? JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCES Goda, G. S., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S. N. 2012; 47 (4): 1055-1081

    View details for Web of Science ID 000310856700007

  • Long-Term Care Insurance Demand Limited By Beliefs About Needs, Concerns About Insurers, And Care Available From Family HEALTH AFFAIRS Brown, J. R., Goda, G. S., McGarry, K. 2012; 31 (6): 1294-1302

    Abstract

    In spite of the high costs and major financial risks involved in long-term care, the majority of older Americans do not own long-term care insurance. We conducted a survey designed to learn more about the role of the following four broad factors in affecting the demand for long-term care insurance: preferences and beliefs, such as notions about the likelihood that one will become disabled; substitutes for insurance, such as savings that could be spent on long-term care; substitutes for formal care, such as care provided by family members; and features of the private market, such as concerns about the high costs of coverage. We found evidence that each of these factors was important in explaining low demand for long-term care insurance. For example, people who believed they might need long-term care were more likely to purchase long-term care coverage. People who had alternative ways to pay for care, such as through savings, or those who could use unpaid care from family members, were less likely to purchase insurance. Features of the private market, such as people's lack of trust in insurers and the high cost of coverage, made people less likely to buy long-term care insurance. We conclude that policy interventions designed to address only one factor limiting the purchase of long-term care insurance are unlikely to dramatically increase demand for long-term care insurance.

    View details for DOI 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1307

    View details for Web of Science ID 000305130900018

    View details for PubMedID 22665842

  • The impact of state tax subsidies for private long-term care insurance on coverage and Medicaid expenditures JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS Goda, G. S. 2011; 95 (7-8): 744-757

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.001

    View details for Web of Science ID 000291289800022

  • Income and the utilization of long-term care services: Evidence from the Social Security benefit notch JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS Goda, G. S., Golberstein, E., Grabowski, D. C. 2011; 30 (4): 719-729

    Abstract

    This paper estimates the impact of income on the long-term care utilization of elderly Americans using a natural experiment that led otherwise similar retirees to receive significantly different Social Security payments based on their year of birth. Using data from the 1993 and 1995 waves of the AHEAD, we estimate instrumental variables models and find that a positive permanent income shock lowers nursing home use but increases the utilization of paid home care services. We find some suggestive evidence that the effects are due to substitution of home care for nursing home utilization. The magnitude of these estimates suggests that moderate reductions in post-retirement income would significantly alter long-term utilization patterns among elderly individuals.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.04.001

    View details for Web of Science ID 000294393500011

    View details for PubMedID 21641063

  • Fertility and the Personal Exemption: Comment AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW Crump, R., Goda, G. S., Mumford, K. J. 2011; 101 (4): 1616-1628

    View details for DOI 10.1257/aer.101.4.1616

    View details for Web of Science ID 000292186600024

  • HOW WELL ARE SOCIAL SECURITY RECIPIENTS PROTECTED FROM INFLATION? NATIONAL TAX JOURNAL Goda, G. S., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S. N. 2011; 64 (2): 429-449

    View details for Web of Science ID 000291189100009

  • What Explains Changes in Retirement Plans during the Great Recession? AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW Goda, G. S., Shoven, J. B., Slavov, S. N. 2011; 101 (3): 29-34

    View details for DOI 10.1257/aer.101.3.29

    View details for Web of Science ID 000291150300005

  • Do markets respond to quality information? The case of fertility clinics JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS Bundorf, M. K., Chun, N., Goda, G. S., Kessler, D. P. 2009; 28 (3): 718-727

    Abstract

    Although policymakers have increasingly turned to provider report cards as a tool to improve health care quality, existing studies provide mixed evidence on whether they influence consumer choices. We examine the effects of providing consumers with quality information in the context of fertility clinics providing Assisted Reproductive Therapies (ART). We report three main findings. First, clinics with higher birth rates had larger market shares after the adoption of report cards relative to before. Second, clinics with a disproportionate share of young, relatively easy-to-treat patients had lower market shares after adoption versus before. This suggests that consumers take into account information on patient mix when evaluating clinic outcomes. Third, report cards had larger effects on consumers and clinics from states with ART insurance coverage mandates. We conclude that consumers respond to quality report cards when choosing among providers of ART.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2009.01.001

    View details for PubMedID 19328568