Daniel Dench

Daniel Dench is an Assistant Professor in the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology, affiliated with the Health Economics & Analytics Lab (HEAL). He holds a PhD from CUNY and teaches courses in economics and health analytics. His research focuses on health policy, education economics, and tobacco/nicotine policy, with notable work on abortion policy impacts, vaping effects, and school choice mechanisms. He has held roles as a Research Economist at NBER and faculty affiliate at Notre Dame's Lab for Economic Opportunity.

Education: PhD in Economics from CUNY Graduate Center (2020), BA in Economics from Temple University (2011).

Research emphasizes causal inference methodologies applied to healthcare access, public policy evaluation, and student behavior. Key areas include post-Dobbs abortion ban effects, pandemic fertility trends, and vaping's impact on birth outcomes. His work bridges economics and public health through field experiments and policy analysis.

Grants include NIH/NIDA funding for e-cigarette policy research ($955k) and Society for Family Planning grants examining abortion ban migration effects. His teaching spans macroeconomics and applied econometrics across undergraduate and graduate levels.

Labs/Teams: Co-organizes Annual Health Economics & Policy Innovation Collaborative Conferences and collaborates with CDC on health analytics projects. Advises PhD students on topics combining economic theory with health policy applications.