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Kevin Murphy, George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, and colleague Robert Topel, Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Brown Professor in Urban and Labor Economics, received the 2005 Eugene Garfield Economic Impact of Medical and Health Research Award. Research!America is the award’s sponsor. Murphy and Topel were selected for their study, which assigns economic value to medical research advances and the resulting gains in U.S. life expectancy.
In describing the significance of the award, John Edward Porter, chair of Research! America’s board of directors, noted the research demonstrates that “from an economic perspective the United States is getting a substantial return on its investment in medical research.” Among findings by Murphy and Topel is the estimate that “improvements in life expectancy alone added approximately $2.6 trillion per year … to national wealth over the 1970–98 period.”
For Murphy, the award is further acknowledgment of his leadership in the economic analysis of social phenomena such as wage inequality, unemployment, addiction, medical research, and economic growth. He was awarded a 2005 MacArthur Fellowship in recognition for this same work.
Learn more about Research!America. A copy of Murphy and Topel’s study, “The Economic Value of Medical Research” is available online.