Awards
IHEA has three awards:
- The Adam Wagstaff Award for Outstanding Research on the Economics of Healthcare Financing and Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries;
- The Arrow Award for the best published health economics paper; and
- The Di McIntyre Student Paper Prize for the best paper by a Master’s or Doctoral student.
Adam Wagstaff
3 May 1959 – 10 May 2020
IHEA President 2016 – 2017
This award was established by colleagues and friends in memory of Adam Wagstaff and was funded through ‘Friends of Adam’ crowdfunding. The prize is awarded to the best IHEA congress paper on the economics of healthcare financing or delivery in a low- or middle-income country(ies) (LMIC) that is written and presented by a researcher from a LMIC. It reflects Adam’s lifelong commitment to these issues and to promoting equity in LMICs.
Applications for this award are submitted through the IHEA Congress abstract submission process.
About the Adam Wagstaff Award
- This award is intended for early career researchers (ECRs)/recent graduates, not those currently studying. Students are encouraged to submit an entry for the annual IHEA Student Paper Prize.
- To be considered for the Adam Wagstaff Award, the ECR must have an abstract accepted for oral presentation at the IHEA congress. You must indicate your interest in being considered for this award during the abstract submission process.
- The paper must focus on the economics of healthcare financing or delivery in a LMIC (this can include a country defined by the World Bank as a middle-income country until not more than a year ago, that is now classified as a high-income country). The research should be policy-relevant in that it should provide insights into how to improve healthcare financing or delivery. Papers with an equity focus are encouraged.
- The first author of the paper (or corresponding author where authors are listed alphabetically) and presenter at the congress must be a citizen of a LMIC (using the World Bank country income classification). Co-authors on the paper are not restricted to LMIC citizens.
- The main author and presenter at the congress must have submitted their doctorate or have completed their doctorate within the last 7 full-time equivalent years.
- To be considered for the award, a full paper must be available three months before the congress and be submitted with a personal statement of 500 words outlining your future career plans at the time of application.
- Submitters should be willing to commit to contributing to health economics in LMICs if they win this award. This could take the form of mentoring researchers with very limited experience, co-supervising a (post-)graduate student, serving on the Award Committee in future, or related activity, depending on the skills and preferences of the Awardee.
Can I submit a paper that analyses global data, so includes low-, middle- and high-income countries? No, only papers that have a specific focus on LMICs will be considered.
Can a paper that considers theoretical or methodological issues be submitted? Usually not, unless there is a very specific focus on LMICs (e.g. development of an innovative methodology for health care financing or delivery research to address data constraints in LMICs).
Can an economic evaluation paper be submitted? Generally not. As the focus of the award is on the economics of health care financing or delivery, only economic evaluations that compare alternative service delivery options and/or include a budget impact analysis of services that address a major burden of disease in LMICs will be considered. Papers that focus purely on the effectiveness of health care interventions or an economic evaluation of a very specific clinical intervention are not eligible.
If I graduated 8 or 9 years ago, but had maternity leave and worked part-time for a year afterwards, will my paper be considered? Yes, as long as the full-time equivalent working period after graduation is no longer than 7 years at the time of application.
If I am a citizen of a LMIC, but am currently living and working in a high-income country, will my paper be considered? Yes, as long as the paper focuses on LMICs and your intention is to continue undertaking research focused on LMICs.
Those from a low- or middle-income country with an accepted abstract, on the economics of healthcare financing or delivery in a LMIC, for the next IHEA congress will be invited to submit a full paper for review by the selection committee three months prior to the congress. The selection criteria are comparable to those used for the Arrow Award and the Student Prize, which focus on the importance of the contribution of the paper and appropriateness and innovation in methodology.
The award includes a certificate and a cash prize, which will be presented during one of the plenary sessions of the congress. The session in which the award-winning paper is presented will be highlighted as a special session and the presentation will be followed by discussant input. In addition, the winner will be invited to present at the World Bank’s Health Finance Forum.
Rym Ghouma
Do Providers Contribute to Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health Care? An Audit Experiment in Tunisia
Rym Ghouma is a Health Economist and Research Fellow at the Institute for Research and Information in Health Economics (IRDES) in France. Her research focuses on applying economic theory and empirical tools to better understand provider behavior and the determinants of healthcare quality in both the public and private sectors. She is particularly committed to informing health policy debates in Tunisia—her home country—and in other low- and middle-income settings, particularly those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Currently, she is engaged in research on hospital financing, performance, and quality of care in the French healthcare system, with the aim of applying these insights to other contexts.
Rym graduated in 2024 with a PhD in Health Economics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (University of London) and has a Master of Public Affairs (MPA) from Sciences Po Paris. She also earned an MBA at the South Mediterranean University (SMU) in Tunis and a B.A. in Economics at ESSEC Business School.
In addition to her research, Rym has lectured at Sciences Po Paris and consulted for international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and various United Nations agencies. Prior to her research career, she held several managerial positions in the healthcare industry across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Rym’s diverse background and experience inform her commitment to supporting equitable and effective health system reforms in both developing and developed settings.
The Adam Wagstaff Award Committee is also pleased to announce Honorable Mentions to two other papers submitted for the 2025 IHEA Congress:
Chenyuan Liu: Decentralized Policymaking and Market Distortions: Evidence From China’s Drug Formulary Design
Vishnu Prasad Sapkota: Coping (more or less) with Health Shocks: a Longitudinal Perspective on Financial Protection from Nepal
Members of the initial Award Committee were selected to include at least one close colleague of Adam’s from long-term collaborative research projects; at least one of Adam’s colleagues from the World Bank with expertise in this sub-field; and at least one researcher with expertise in the sub-field who is based in or affiliated with a LMIC institution. The Committee members, in alphabetical order, are:
Augustine Asante, University of New South Wales and Centre for Health Financing and Systems Innovation Africa
Edwine Barasa, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme
Damien de Walque, World Bank
Eeshani Kandpal, Center for Global Development
Hong Liu, Renmin University of China
Anne Mills, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Owen O’Donnell, Erasmus University
Rudi Rocha, São Paulo School of Business Administration
Aparnaa Somanathan, World Bank
Winnie Yip, Harvard University
Funds raised through ‘Friends of Adam’ crowdfunding are ring-fenced for this award, with auditing and IHEA Board oversight of revenue and expenditure as for all IHEA finances. In addition, there will be biennial reporting to the Award selection committee for additional oversight.
We would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of the following individuals and groups, as well as several anonymous contributors, towards this Award:
Ronald Akehurst, Sarah Alkenbrack, Elaine Baruwa, Marcel Bilger, Caryn Bredenkamp, Terkel Christiansen, Jorge Coarasa, Daniel Cotlear, Agnes Couffinhal, Damien de Walque, Tim Ensor, Patrick Eozenou, Tim Evans, Deon Filmer, Emanuela Galasso, John Giles, Karen Grépin, Mutsa Gumbi, Reem Hafez, Emmanuel Jimenez, Andrew Jones, Eeshani Kandpal, Beth & Mead King Over, Felicia Knaul, Joseph Kutzin, Soonman Kwon, Gabriel Leung, Elisa Liberatori Prati, Jui-fen Rachel Lu, Di McIntyre, David McKenzie, Owen O’Donnell, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Kjeld Pedersen, Eugenio Prati, Stella Quimbo, Marisol Rodriguez, Miriam Schneidman, Gil Shapira, Richard Smith, Peter Smith, Sally Stearns, Sandy Tubeuf, UPSE Health Econ Lab, Eddy Van Doorslaer, Tom Van Ourti, Marcos Vera-Hernandez, Michael Woolcock, Vasoontara, Yiengprugsawan, and Winnie Yip
Kenneth J. Arrow
23 August 1921 – 21 February 2017
This annual award was established in honor of Kenneth Arrow and in recognition of the influence of his seminal paper from 1963 “Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care”. It recognizes excellence in the field of health economics, with the award presented to the author(s) of the paper judged to be the best paper published in health economics in English in the award year.
About the Arrow Award
Deadline: Annually in mid-January
IHEA’s Arrow Award was created to recognize excellence in the field of health economics with the Award presented to the author or authors of the paper judged to be the best paper published in health economics in English in the award year. The Award was set up in honour of the late Kenneth Arrow and in recognition of the influence of his seminal paper from 1963 “Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care”. Professor Arrow was involved in the creation of the Award and he presented the inaugural prize in 1993.
The Award is made every year. The Terms of Reference of the Committee and guidelines for scoring of short-listed papers, can be viewed here.
Nominations for the Arrow Award from members of IHEA are encouraged and should be submitted below.
The 34th Arrow Award for the best paper in health economics is awarded to:
Londoño-Vélez, J., and Saravia, E., 2025. The Impact of Being Denied a Wanted Abortion on Women and Their Children. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 140(2), pp. 1061-1110.
The Arrow Award Committee proudly recognizes the authors of this important paper that examines the causal consequences of being denied a wanted abortion on women and their children in Colombia. The authors leverage a unique institutional setting in which women seek legal abortions through a constitutional writ called a tutela, with cases randomly assigned to judges. Drawing on high-quality administrative microdata, they document that female judges are 20 percentage points (32%) less likely to deny abortion cases than male judges and use the judge’s sex as an instrument for abortion denial.
The findings reveal both immediate and lasting consequences of abortion denial. In the short run, denial increases a woman’s risk of death by 2.5 percentage points within nine months, largely due to unsafe abortion procedures, and raises the likelihood of carrying the pregnancy to term by 31 percentage points. Tracking outcomes up to 15 years later, the authors show that women denied a wanted abortion experience more health problems, lower educational attainment, reduced labor force participation, and lower household earnings.
Strikingly, the consequences extend across generations. Because many women seeking abortions are already mothers, the income losses from abortion denial reach existing children, who are more likely to be raised in poverty, to rely on public assistance, to leave school early, and to enter the labor force prematurely. The findings illuminate how restrictions on reproductive health care reinforce cycles of disadvantage and impose lasting fiscal and human costs.
By combining a credible identification strategy with rich administrative data and a valuable long-run perspective, this paper makes a landmark contribution to the economics of reproductive health, gender, and intergenerational mobility.
We congratulate the authors on the publication of this important paper and thank the members of the Prize Committee for all their hard work.
Chairperson: Marcella Alsan (Stanford University)
Gabriella Conti (University College London)
Apostolos Davillas (Institute of Labor Economics, Bonn)
Monica Deza (Syracuse University)
Sonja de New (Monash University)
Susan Griffin (University of York)
Bruce Hollingsworth (Lancaster University)
Myelene Lagarde (London School of Economics)
Aurélia Lépine (University College London)
Hsien-Ming Lien (National Cheng-Chi University)
Daniel Maceira (Universidad de San Andrés)
Peter May (King’s College London)
Nhung Nghiem (Australian National University)
Jalandhar Pradhan (Rourkela Orissa)
Stephanie von Hinke Kessler Scholder (University of Bristol)
Sandy Tubeuf (Université Catholique de Louvain)
Judit Vall Castelló (Universitat de Barcelona)
Marcia Weaver (University of Washington)
Xiaoyan Lei (Peking University)
Applications for 2026 are now closed!
Di McIntyre Student Paper Prize
IHEA Executive Director 2016-2026
This annual award, previously known as the IHEA Student Paper Prize, was renamed the Di McIntyre Student Paper Prize in 2026 to acknowledge the important and lasting impact of IHEA’s previous Executive Director, Di McIntyre, particularly on engagement with early career researchers.
The award recognizes excellence by students in the field of health economics and is awarded to the master’s or doctoral student paper judged as best in the award year.
About the Di McIntyre Student Paper Prize
- Applicants must currently be studying (full- or part-time) at a higher education institution, at either Master’s or Doctoral level. In addition, students who completed their studies in the year previous to the call for submissions qualify, as long as the paper was written while registered as a student.
- Papers can be published or unpublished, but must be in comparable format to a published paper in Journal of Health Economics or Health Economics, of maximum length 8,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures, references and any appendices).
- Papers should be in English.
- A cover letter is required, signed by the student’s supervisor, confirming that the student’s contribution is at least 75% and outlining the nature of the student’s contribution and that of any co-authors (conceptualization, analysis, writing etc.).
- Previous winners are not eligible.
The International Health Economics Association (IHEA) is pleased to invite submissions for the Annual Student Paper Prize in Health Economics. Submissions should include a copy of the paper (preferably .pdf) and a cover letter, signed by the supervisor, outlining the student’s contribution (which should be at least 75%) and that of any co-authors. As an international association, IHEA highly encourages those from around the globe to share this call with their networks and submit their papers for consideration.
A student is defined as someone currently studying (full- or part-time) at a higher education institution, at either Master’s or Doctoral level. In addition, students who have completed their studies in the year previous to the announcement qualify as long as the paper was written while registered as a student.
Papers can be published or unpublished, but must be in a comparable format to a published paper in the Journal of Health Economics or Health Economics, and have a maximum length of 8,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, figures, references and any appendices). Papers should be in English. Previous winners are not eligible.
Papers will be reviewed by an International Committee chaired by Shiko Maruyama (University of Osaka).
Please submit your paper and cover letter, and complete the form, at the bottom of this page.
The Prize will be complimentary registration for the next IHEA Congress to present the paper in a Student Prize Special Organised Session, a cash prize and the offer (if the author wishes, and the paper is unpublished) of potential fast track publication in Health Economics, subject to Editorial approval.
The papers in 2nd and 3rd place will receive a small cash prize and complimentary registration for the next IHEA Congress. They will be invited to give brief presentations at the IHEA Congress Student Prize Special Organized Session. All prize winners will also receive a certificate.
The 2026 Student Paper First Prize was jointly awarded to:
Tsepang Juliet Khumalo
Using South African longitudinal survey data, this study examined what happened to the mental health of teenagers when they age out of South Africa’s largest cash transfer program, the Child Support Grant. The researchers found that losing the cash benefit led to a sharp decline in mental well‑being, especially among girls, adolescents in urban areas and those in economically vulnerable households. The study highlights an overlooked issue in social protection: stopping cash support at a sensitive stage of life can have serious mental health consequences, so how and when benefits are withdrawn matters greatly.
Chunfeng Zhang
This paper asks a fundamental policy question in aging societies: Is it better to support frail older adults with care services or with cash? Using evidence from China’s long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilots, the study finds that service-based (in-kind) benefits substantially improve elderly welfare, including lower mortality and better support with daily living, while cash transfers produce much weaker effects. The paper refers to this unexpected gap as the “cash-out puzzle”. It proposes that principal–agent problems and information asymmetry within household care arrangements may limit the effectiveness of unconditional cash benefits. The findings highlight that how long-term care benefits are delivered can matter as much as how much support is provided.
Honorable mention go to the runner up:
Marta Curull Sentís
This study exploited exogenous variation from a 2019 Spanish reform and administrative health records to examine whether requiring new fathers to take two weeks of paternity leave affected intimate partner violence, which is especially common after childbirth. The paper found that mandating fathers and mothers to take leave together reduced severe violence against mothers by roughly half. Couples also became more likely to separate, suggesting that more women exited harmful relationships before violence escalated. These results show that well‑designed paternity leave policies can play a meaningful role in protecting women during a vulnerable period after childbirth.
The prize winners will present their papers at a special session of the 2027 IHEA Congress.
Many thanks to all those who submitted papers for consideration, and to the Prize Committee for all their hard work. The next call for submissions will be issued later in 2026.
The Student Prize is sponsored by the Canadian Centre for Health Economics.
Shiko Maruyama (Chair) – University of Osaka
Mehdi Ammi – Carleton University
Amirah Azzeri – Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia
Peter Binyaruka – Ifakara Health Institute
Ronelle Burger – Stellenbosch University
Angela Devine – Menzies School of Health Research
Brenda Gannon – University of Queensland
Michal Horný – University of Massachusetts Amherst
Flavia Mori Sarti – University of São Paulo
Jacob Novignon – University of Ghana
Alfredo Paloyo – University of Wollongong
May Ee Png – University of Oxford
Timothy Powell-Jackson – London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Francesco Ramponi – Harvard University
Sally Stearns – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Raf van Gestel – KU Leuven
Wei Zhang – University of British Columbia