Does taxing soda reduce how much people purchase and consume it?
Do restaurant patrons make healthier choices when calories are listed on menus?
Are GLP-1 weight-loss medications likely to reduce healthcare expenses?
These are but a few of the timely questions related to health policy and economics that have captured John Cawley’s scholarly interest in recent years. He’s studied these topics and published his findings in high-impact peer-reviewed academic and policy journals to inform decision-makers and fellow researchers.
John Cawley
Cawley uses sophisticated methods to address complex questions and provide straightforward recommendations. The short answers to the above questions are as follows: Yes, taxes on sugary drinks reduce purchases but have ambiguous effects on consumption, and people do tend to order fewer calories when that information is listed on menus. And, while the study of GLP-1 drugs is very much ongoing, the weight loss associated with them is likely to reduce healthcare expenses for individuals with extreme obesity, but not necessarily enough to cover their current high prices.
Cawley is a leading health economist, and he joins the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs this fall as the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Chair in Public Policy and professor of economics and public administration and international affairs. He will also serve as a senior research associate in the Maxwell-based Center for Policy Research (CPR).
“We are thrilled to welcome such a world-class scholar to our ranks,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke. “Across disciplines and in our research centers and institutes, students and faculty will benefit from his expertise in the critical area of health economics, his research endeavors and his well-established connection with policymakers.”
Van Slyke points out that Cawley’s addition comes at an important time, as the public health department transitions to Maxwell from the University’s Falk College of Sport. The restructuring brings to Maxwell hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students and 14 faculty members whose research interests intersect with Cawley’s endeavors.
Likewise, opportunities for collaboration abound with several Maxwell-based research centers and institutes such as CPR and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health.
These opportunities were a draw for Cawley, who has a keen interest in the economics of risky health behaviors and says he’s eager for the “cross pollination of ideas.”
“Being around people from other disciplines is a big plus because you learn about different ways of thinking about the same issues,” he says, adding, “You don’t get stuck in an echo chamber.”
He says he’s honored to hold the Moynihan title, founded in 2007 to honor its namesake, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served as a U.S. senator, assistant secretary of labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, assistant to President Nixon for domestic policy, and ambassador to the United Nations and India. He served on the Maxwell faculty from 1959-61 and returned to teach for a few years before his death in 2003.
“Daniel Patrick Moynihan personified what we would want from academics,” says Cawley. “He was a very serious researcher, a prolific author, he engaged with policy and he served as an advisor to presidents. He could speak to anybody, and I think that’s sort of the gold standard of what we hope for in people in those positions. I’m really excited to join Maxwell—it has amazing faculty in all departments. It’s exciting from a research perspective.”
Cawley joins şÚÁϲ»´ňěČ from Cornell University, where he began as an assistant professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management in 2001. Since 2021, he served as a professor in its Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and directed the Cornell in Washington program.
Cawley’s other roles at Cornell included serving as co-director of the Institute on Health Economics, Health Behaviors and Disparities from 2011–22 and professor in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management and Department of Economics. He received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
He has served as an honorary professor of economics at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the University of Galway in Ireland since 2014. In 2016 he was named a Fulbright Specialist in Economics to Ireland through the Fulbright Scholar Program. His numerous accolades include the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship, the Kappa Omicron Nu/Human Ecology Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Advising and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Investigator Award in Health Policy Research.
Cawley’s research findings have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including American Economic Review, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Economic Perspectives, JAMA, Lancet and the American Journal of Public Health. He has been featured in major media outlets, including The New York Times, PBS and The Washington Post.
Cawley is the president-elect of the American Society of Health Economists and will serve as president from 2026-27. Since 2022 he has served on the board of directors of the International Health Economics Association. He is a former editor of the Journal of Health Economics and served on an Institute of Medicine panel on obesity in youth.
He begins at Maxwell on Monday. He will teach a spring 2026 undergraduate course titled “The Economics and Regulation of Risky Health Behaviors,” which will cover policies such as the minimum legal drinking age, recreational and medicinal marijuana, soda taxes and euthanasia laws.
Cawley is excited for the role, and to be part of the Orange community that he’s familiar with given his many şÚÁϲ»´ňěČ connections, including a sister who earned a master of public administration at Maxwell, a niece who is currently an undergraduate and a nephew who is on staff.
“I’m honored to join Maxwell, which is home to the oldest and highest-ranked public affairs program,” says Cawley. “It has an incredible history of distinguished faculty and accomplished alumni, and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with the students and faculty. Also, I’ve gotten my basketball tickets and a picture with Otto, so the semester is already off to a great start.”
