Mary K. Olson

Associate Professor and Department Chair

Ph.D. Stanford University

Research interests: health economics, political economics, regulation and public policy

306 Tilton Hall

504-862-8342

molson3@tulane.edu

Personal website: murphy.tulane.edu/people/mary-k-olson.php

Short bio

Mary K. Olson, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor of Economics at Tulane. Professor Olson's teaching and research interests include health economics, the political economy of health policy, regulation, and the study of bureaucracy. She is an expert on Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation. Her research uses economic and political-economic theories and methods to understand and examine the effects of regulatory policies. She has published articles that examine new-drug approval policies, FDA enforcement strategies, FDA advisory committees, the effects of prescription drug user fees on the FDA, the effects of increased drug review speed on the safety of new medicines, and the risks associated with novel and less novel drugs. Her current research interests include studying the regulatory and firm-specific determinants of drug safety. She is also investigating the barriers to health care access among the Latino population in New Orleans in the post-Katrina era.

Dr. Olson has received grant awards from the National Science Foundation, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. She also recently served as a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee that assessed the U.S. drug safety system.

Prior to coming to Tulane, Dr. Olson was an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Administration at Yale University and an Assistant Professor of Economics at Washington University. Dr. Olson received a Ph.D. in Political Economics from Stanford University.

Dr. Olson was awarded the 2008 Mortar Board Award for Excellence in Tenured Teaching by the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute and the Newcomb Alumnae Association.

Selected publications

Mary K. Olson. 2009. PDUFA and Initial U.S. Drug Launches. Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review 15(2): 393-416.

Mary K. Olson. 2008. The Risk We Bear: The Effects of Review Speed and Industry User Fees on New Drug Safety. Journal of Health Economics 27(2): 175-200.

Mary K. Olson. 2004. Are Novel Drugs More Risky for Patients than Less Novel Drugs? Journal of Health Economics 23(6): 1135-58.

Mary K. Olson. 2004. Managing Delegation in the FDA: Reducing Delay in New-Drug Review. Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law 29(3): 397-430.

Mary K. Olson. 2002. Pharmaceutical Policy Change and the Safety of New Drugs. Journal of Law and Economics 45(2) Part 2: 615-42.

Mary K. Olson. 2000. Regulatory Reform and Bureaucratic Responsiveness to Firms: The Impact of User Fees in the FDA. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 9(3): 363-95.

Mary K. Olson. 1999. Agency Rule-making, Political Influences, Regulation, and Industry Compliance. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 15(3): 573-601.

Mary K. Olson. 1997. Firm Characteristics and the Speed of FDA Approval. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy 6(2): 377-401.

Mary K. Olson. 1996. Substitution in Regulatory Agencies: FDA Enforcement Alternatives. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 12(2): 376-407.

Mary K. Olson. 1995. Regulatory Agency Discretion among Competing Industries: Inside the FDA. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 11(2): 379-405.

Mary K. Olson. 1994. Political influence and regulatory policy: The 1984 drug legislation. Economic Inquiry 32(3): 363-82.