Research plays an imperative role in Chad Cotti’s work.
Cotti, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh College of Business (COB), describes economics as more about human behavior and less about money and finances.
“Economics is about the well-being of society as a whole and understanding decision-making. It is a very broad discipline, of which the study of financial markets is only a small part. In reality, economists study a wide range of issues that include healthcare, taxes and politics,” Cotti said.
Cotti is a member of the International Healthcare Economics Association(iHEA). His recent work in health economics lead to an appointment to the Scientific Committee Review Panel for the 2017 World Health Economics Congress in Boston.
“It is a privilege to be able to judge the scientific merit of the leading scholarship in the field of health economics. I am honored to be chosen to serve my discipline in this way and represent UW Oshkosh in doing so,” Cotti said.
Cotti values his membership to iHEA and sees it as an excellent platform to share ideas and research and to keep abreast of the latest and greatest in health economics. Cotti views this as a learning opportunity that directly benefits his students and enables him to bring new ideas and practices back to UW Oshkosh.
“Scholarly research is a vitally important aspect of how Universities help serve society, drive economic development, and promote meaningful-transformative classroom experiences,” Cotti said.
In the classroom, Cotti uses current events to teach his health economics course. With the new administration, he feels there will be a shift in human behavior and how healthcare is used in America. Cotti feels that the changes in healthcare will take a while to go into effect, but will make an interesting conversation for the 2017 spring semester.
“I choose topics that will impact students’ lives and work. I like to relate to them with topics that are relevant and tangible,” Cotti said.
Cotti feels this keeps students engaged and is beneficial information to help students understand economics from a first-person perspective.
“Simply put, a strong understanding of economics is valuable because it combines rigorous critical thinking skills with a strong quantitative application,” Cotti said.
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