- Phone:
- (812) 855-4556
- Email:
- alorte@iu.edu
- Research areas:
- Policy Analysis
- Public Finance and Economics
- Social Policy and Health
- Areas of Interest:
- Substance use and mental health
- Crime
- Education
SPEA 339A
Education
- Ph.D., University of Florida, 2017
- M.A., University of Florida, 2013
- B.A., Florida International University, 2011
Courses
- Public Management Economics
- Contemporary Economic Issues in Public Affairs
Biography
Dr. Alberto Ortega is an assistant professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University. His recent work focuses on risky behaviors such as substance use disorders and crime. Specifically, his research examines access to healthcare and health outcomes, including substance use, mental health, and mortality resulting from victimization. His earlier research examined the causes of funding disparities experienced by minority-serving institutions of higher education.
He has published in various outlets, including AEA: Papers and Proceedings; Contemporary Economic Policy; Economics of Education Review; Educational Researcher; Health Economics; Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy; Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment; and The Review of Black Political Economy.
His teaching interests include applied microeconomics and public policy. He currently teaches a course on contemporary microeconomic issues in public affairs and has previously taught courses in public finance and intermediate microeconomics.
Dr. Ortega obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of Florida and his bachelor's in economics from Florida International University. Before joining the O'Neill School faculty, he was an assistant professor of economics at Whitman College. He was also a Resource Center for Minority Aging research scientist with USC's Minority Aging Health Economics Research Center. Ortega was an NSF Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics Fellow and an American Economic Association Summer Program Fellow and mentor. He is currently the chair of the communications committee for the American Society for Hispanic Economists.
Highlights
- Indiana University Social Sciences Research Funding Program, 2021
- USC's Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (USC-RCMAR) Pilot Grant, National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging, 2019
- Diversity Initiative for Tenure in Economics, National Science Foundation, 2017-18
- American Economic Association Summer Program Fellow, 2016
Selected Works
- “Flipping the Script: The Effect of Opioid Prescription Monitoring on Specialty-Specific Provider Behavior,” (with Alice Ellyson and Jevay Grooms), Health Economics (2021)
- “Distance Learning and Parental Mental Health During COVID-19,” (with Cassandra Davis, Jevay Grooms, Joaquin Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba, and Edward Vargas), Educational Researcher, (2020)
- “Trade Liberalization and Racial Animus,” (with Ema Di Fruscia and Bryn Louise) Contemporary Economic Policy, (2020)
- “State Partisanship and Higher Education,”Economics of Education Review, 76: 101977, (2020)
- “Examining Medicaid Expansion and the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders," (with J. Grooms), AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109: 187-92 (2019)