Professor Jonathan Kolstad, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Management
About the Professor
Professor Jonathan Kolstad is an assistant professor at the Wharton School's Healthcare Management Department who teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. He has published articles and works in journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Journal of Health Economics. He graduated from Stanford University with honors and continued his graduate education by receiving a Ph.D in Health Policy and Economics from Harvard University. Professor Kolstad's fields of interest include Health Economics, Industrial Organization, Public Economics, Applied Microeconomics, and Behavioral Economics.
Personal Writing Style
Professor Kolstad generally writes journal articles, solicited chapters in reference books, and op-ed pieces for journals or newspapers. His current research interests include the evolution of the new Massachusetts healthcare system and the incentives offered to consumers who partake in the system. He describes his personal writing process as focusing heavily on drafting. While the first draft should "get down all the key points, such as doing the math and setting up the skeleton of the study," he is keen to also send later, more polished drafts to peer reviewers, who "create an important back-and-forth on what needs to be added and what needs to be taken out of the writing in order to best strengthen both the argument and the cohesion."
Writing Tips for Students
Professor Kolstad mentions that "sometimes writing for healthcare management deals so much with the science and numbers that we forget about the actual writing." Therefore, he suggests that students develop their own style of writing which balances being concise and clear. Professor Kolstad also notes that students should avoid "thinking errors" that stem from undeveloped reasoning. For him, the most important things in a student's writing are an ability to organize and articulate one's thoughts, while being creative with the assignment.
Personal Thoughts on Writing
"I want students to write effectively, efficently, and to be able to articulate to the best of their ability in every piece of writing they do...the best essays and the best writing have really thought through the problem and are providing me with sound reasoning I cannot refute as well as evidence which clearly supports every point. To just check all the boxes, make sure you have all the key features is good writing, but that truly exceptional student will go above and beyond, and it usually comes through in the writing."
Additional Resources
Helpful Links
Wharton Healthcare Management DepartmentSage Journal of Health Management
© 2013 The University of Pennsylvania
