About News News Subscribe Economics Health Policy Social Psychology Leadership Social Entrepreneurship Facet Area of Focus - News Ian H. Solomon Craig Volden Brian N. Williams Christine Mahoney Benjamin Castleman Kirsten Gelsdorf Gerald Warburg Gabrielle Adams Philip Potter Daphna Bassok Jay Shimshack John Holbein Lucy Bassett Andrew S. Pennock David Leblang Allan Stam Raymond C. Scheppach Sarah Turner Sophie Trawalter Timothy L. Davis Bala Mulloth Sebastian Tello Trillo Eileen Chou Jeanine Braithwaite Jennifer Lawless Jill Rockwell Todd S. Sechser Alexander Bick James H. Wyckoff Paul S. Martin Peter Johannessen Steve Hiss Daniel W. Player Gerard Robinson Laura Toscano Michael D. Williams Noah Myung William Shobe Brooke Lehmann Harry Harding James R. Detert Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi Jeff Chidester Kyle S. H. Dobson Larry Terry Margaret Foster Riley Molly Lipscomb Abigail Scholer Adam Leive Allison Atteberry Andrew Simon Brad Carson Derek Wu Frederick P. Hitz Galen Fountain Gerald Higginbotham Isaac Mbiti Michele Claibourn Sally Hudson Tim Layton Xiao Wang Adam Roux Amanda Crombie Andy Ortiz Ashley Jardina Brendan J. Boler Brooke Ray Charles J. Rush Charles J. Rush Diane Biesecker George Foresman Jieun Pai Justin H. Kirkland Kimberly Jenkins Robinson Melissa Thomas-Hunt Pam Cipriano Paul Becker Tim Layton (-) Christopher J. Ruhm (-) Benjamin Converse Facet People - News School Engineering Social Innovation @ UVA Facet UVA Partner - News Research and Commentary Accolades Faculty In Action Facet News Type - News Apr 28, 2025 UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics. Learn more Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more Jul 30, 2024 How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths. Learn more Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more Dec 13, 2023 Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.” Learn more Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today Jun 23, 2022 We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Health Policy Findings from the Batten School's Christopher Ruhm and colleagues at Harvard question the accuracy of the CDC’s Household Pulse survey on mental health. Learn more Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more May 17, 2021 How to target opioid funding to states that need it most Health Policy Economics According to new research from Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm, the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. In an op-ed for The Hill, Ruhm suggests several ways to improve the targeting of federal grants that aim to assist states with opioid problems. Read in The Hill May 03, 2021 Federal Opioid Grant Funding Favors Least Populous States, Not Those With the Greatest Need Economics Health Policy In a new paper published in the journal Health Affairs, Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm and co-author Bradley A. Katcher find that the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. Learn more Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist Pagination Current page 1 Page 2 Next page Next › Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Apr 28, 2025 UVA Batten a Hub for Health Economics Research The health economy is one of the most extensive and complex systems in modern life, impacting people on a deeply personal level. UVA Batten is honored to have three outstanding faculty members whose research expertise is focused on various policy aspects of the field, including Medicaid and Medicare, COVID-related mortality rates, and other topics. Learn more
Feb 20, 2025 Finding a Seat at the Interdisciplinary Research Table UVA Batten hosted the “Annual Behavioral Science Across Grounds Conference” earlier this month, bringing some of the brightest minds of UVA’s research community to Garrett Hall to exchange ideas, interests, and insights. Associate professor Ben Converse gave the keynote. Learn more
Jul 30, 2024 How State Policies Impacted Death Rates During COVID In a paper published in JAMA Health Forum, Professor of Public Policy and Economics Chris Ruhm finds that stringent COVID-19 restrictions saved lives during the pandemic based on a state-by-state analysis of health policies and COVID deaths. Learn more
Feb 01, 2024 New Research: Sharing "Eco-Innovations" Can Ease Climate Despair Climate despair is emerging as a psychosocial threat. Ben Converse, associate professor of public policy and psychology at the Batten School, and other UVA researchers have found a potential source of hope that is underutilized. Learn more
Dec 13, 2023 Ruhm Named SEA Distinguished Fellow Chris Ruhm, Batten professor of public policy and economics, has received a Distinguished Fellow Award from the Southern Economic Association in recognition for his “substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the association.” Learn more
Jan 26, 2023 When Less is More: How Harnessing the Power of Subtraction Can Add to Life There’s a lot of thought that goes into adding things to our routines, our closets, our lives. But how much thought goes into subtracting things? Not enough, according to three University of Virginia professors. Read in UVA Today
Jun 23, 2022 We May Not Have Been as Anxious, Depressed in Pandemic's First Year as Once Thought Health Policy Findings from the Batten School's Christopher Ruhm and colleagues at Harvard question the accuracy of the CDC’s Household Pulse survey on mental health. Learn more
Jan 31, 2022 Batten's Lipscomb Receives UVA's Prestigious Public Impact-Focused Research Award Social Entrepreneurship Batten professor Molly Lipscomb was honored with the university's Public Impact-Focused Research Award for her work examining the impact of bringing public services to low-income households in countries where services are needed. Learn more
May 17, 2021 How to target opioid funding to states that need it most Health Policy Economics According to new research from Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm, the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. In an op-ed for The Hill, Ruhm suggests several ways to improve the targeting of federal grants that aim to assist states with opioid problems. Read in The Hill
May 03, 2021 Federal Opioid Grant Funding Favors Least Populous States, Not Those With the Greatest Need Economics Health Policy In a new paper published in the journal Health Affairs, Batten’s Christopher J. Ruhm and co-author Bradley A. Katcher find that the federal government’s opioid grant funding structure favors the least populous states, which are not always the states with greatest need. Learn more
Apr 16, 2021 We instinctively add on new features and fixes. Why don’t we subtract instead? Social Psychology Across a series of studies published this month in the journal Nature, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse and co-authors demonstrated that people tend to overlook the option to subtract parts when asked to change or improve something. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, they explore why ‘less is more’ is a hard insight to act on. Read in The Washington Post
Apr 14, 2021 Why People Forget that Less is Often More Social Psychology Why, when solving problems, do people prefer adding things to getting rid of them? In an article for The Economist, Batten’s Gabrielle Adams and Benjamin Converse explain their research on subtractive improvements. Read in The Economist