Silvia Helena Barcellos

About

Silvia Helena Barcellos is an Associate Professor of Population Health Sciences and Public Affairs. She is a health economist, and her work aims to understand the interplay between socio-economic status and health across the lifespan, with a focus on the role public policy plays on such relationships. One area of research investigates how education (and different educational policies) affects health, cognition, and SES at older ages, including how individual genetics shape such relationships. A second area of research studies the effect of health insurance coverage (and different types of coverage) on the risk of catastrophic medical spending, access to care, psychological well-being, and health outcomes. In 2016, she received a Career Development Award (K01) from the National Institute on Aging (NIA). She is currently the PI of an NIA R01 grant on gene-environment interactions in education, cognitive functioning, and dementia risk.

CDE research theme area affiliation

Health & Biodemography; Families & Family Change

Selected Publications

Barcellos, Silvia H., Leandro S. Carvalho, and Patrick Turley. “Distributional effects of education on health.” Journal of Human Resources 58, no. 4 (2023): 1273-1306. PMCID: PMC10361687

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, Mireille Jacobson, and Helen G. Levy. “The Impact of Eligibility for Medicaid versus Subsidized Private Health Insurance on Medical Spending, Self-Reported Health, and Public Program Participation.” American journal of health economics 9, no. 2 (2023): 262-295. NIHMS ID 1927873

Barcellos, Silvia, Mireille Jacobson, and Arthur A. Stone. “Varied and unexpected changes in the well-being of seniors in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.” PLOS one 16, no. 6 (2021): e0252962. PMCID: PMC8211190

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, and Gema Zamarro. “Unbanked status and use of alternative financial services among minority populations.” Journal of pension economics & finance 20, no. 4 (2021): 468-481. NIHMS ID 1927874

Barcellos, Silvia H., Leandro S. Carvalho, and Patrick Turley. “Education can reduce health differences related to genetic risk of obesity.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 42 (2018): E9765-E9772. PMCID: PMC6196527

Hoerl, Maximiliane, Amelie Wuppermann, Silvia H. Barcellos, Sebastian Bauhoff, Joachim K. Winter, and Katherine G. Carman. “Knowledge as a predictor of insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.” Medical care 55, no. 4 (2017): 428-435. NIHMS ID 822149

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, Leandro S. Carvalho, James P. Smith, and Joanne Yoong. “Financial education interventions targeting immigrants and children of immigrants: Results from a randomized control trial.” Journal of Consumer Affairs 50, no. 2 (2016): 263-285. NIHMS ID 1014589

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, and Mireille Jacobson. “The effects of Medicare on medical expenditure risk and financial strain.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 7, no. 4 (2015): 41-70. NIHMS ID 820322

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, Amelie C. Wuppermann, Katherine Grace Carman, Sebastian Bauhoff, Daniel L. McFadden, Arie Kapteyn, Joachim K. Winter, and Dana Goldman. “Preparedness of Americans for the affordable care act.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 15 (2014): 5497-5502. PMCID: PMC3992693

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, Leandro S. Carvalho, and Adriana Lleras-Muney. “Child gender and parental investments in India: Are boys and girls treated differently?” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 6, no. 1 (2014): 157-189. PMCID: PMC3933178

Barcellos, Silvia Helena, Dana P. Goldman, and James P. Smith. “Undiagnosed disease, especially diabetes, casts doubt on some of reported health ‘advantage’ of recent Mexican immigrants.” Health affairs 31, no. 12 (2012): 2727-2737. PMCID: PMC3645344