Curriculum Vitae

Five decades of work in decision science, as a Harvard scholar and teacher, an investor, and the author of nine books spanning health economics, game theory, and history.

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Education

1973

Ph.D., Public Policy — Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The first such degree awarded. Dissertation advised by Richard Zeckhauser, William Capron, and Richard Neustadt.

1971

M.P.P. — John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

1968

A.B., Economics — Harvard College, magna cum laude

Honors dissertation advised by future Nobel laureate in economics Thomas Schelling.

Positions

2004

Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

Co-taught with Richard Zeckhauser a one-semester class on game theory, negotiations, and strategic decisions.

2001

Lecturer, Finance and Economics Department, School of Management, Boston University

One-semester course in competitive decision making.

1995–

President, Equity Resources Group, Inc.

1992–93

Visiting Instructor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

1989–91

Visiting Professor, University of Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany

Courses in health economics, taught mainly in English.

1986–2006

President and NASD-registered securities principal, Barton Hall Securities, Inc.

A wholly-owned securities subsidiary of Equity Resources Group, Inc.

1985–88

Visiting Lecturer, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health

1984–95

Executive Vice President, Equity Resources Group, Inc.

1983–84

Treasurer, Equity Resources Group, Inc.

1983

Member, Task Force on Liver Transplantation in Massachusetts

Chaired by H.V. Fineberg; appointed by A. Frechette, Commissioner of Public Health.

1982–88

Program Leader, The Professional Development Institute Ltd.

Directed periodic seminars on benefit-cost analysis for Canadian Government employees, in English and French.

1982

Visiting Professor, Université de Paris IX Dauphine

Taught in French in the Laboratoire d'Économie et de Gestion des Organisations de Santé.

1981–83

Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health

1980–83

Chair, Doctoral Program, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health

1976–78

Visiting Instructor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

One-semester course on program evaluation.

1975–81

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health

1975–83

Research Associate, Center for the Analysis of Health Practices, Harvard School of Public Health

1972–75

Assistant to the Director and Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

1971–72

Research Consultant, Harvard School of Public Health

1971

Summer Intern, Rand Corporation

1970

Summer Intern, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

1969–72

Research and Teaching Assistant, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard

1968–69

English Teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer, Sfax, Tunisia

Articles, chapters & papers

Zeckhauser, R.J., and Thompson, M.S. Linear Regression with Non-Normal Error Terms. Review of Economics and Statistics, 52(3):280–286, 1970.
The Domestic Air Fare Structure. Special publication series of the Public Policy Program, School of Government, No. 2, part v, 1971.
Newhouse, J.P., and Thompson, M.S. Price and Income Elasticities for Medical Care Services. Rand Corporation: WN-7604-OEO, 1971.
A Study in Research and Development in Environmental Engineering Using the Systems Approach. IIASA: RR-74-13, 1974.
Ponssard, J.P., Thompson, M.S., and Glass, N. The Tragedy of Strategy. IIASA: WP-75-71, 1975. A primer in game theory.
Road Safety Research in the Perspective of Policy Analysis. IIASA: RM-75-6, 1975.
Systems Analysis for the Evaluation of Bio-Medical Research. Pp. 165–176 in Systems Aspects of Health Planning, 1975.
On Any Given Sunday: Fair Competitor Ordering with Maximum Likelihood Strategies. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 70(351):536–541, 1975.
A Systems Approach to Environmental Engineering. Behavioral Science, 20(5):306–234, 1975.
Milles, E., and Thompson, M.S. The Economic Costs of Stroke in Massachusetts. New England Journal of Medicine, 299:415–418, 1978.
Thompson, M.S., and Milunsky, A. Policy Analysis for Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis. Public Policy, 27(1):25–48, 1979.
Prenatal Diagnosis and Public Policy. Pp. 637–660 in Milunsky, A., ed., Hereditary Disorders and the Fetus. New York: Plenum, 1979.
Shepard, D.S., and Thompson, M.S. First Principles of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. Public Health Reports, 94(6):535–543, 1979. Reprinted in Group Practice Journal, 30(2).
Public Policy Toward the Development and Evaluation of Devices for the Control of Diabetes Mellitus. Proceedings of the IEEE, 67(9):1320–1322, 1979.
Thompson, M.S., and Fortess, E.E. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Program Evaluation. Evaluation Review, 4(4):549–568, 1980. Reprinted in Evaluation Studies Review Annual, Vol. 6, 1981.
McNeil, B.J., Thompson, M.S., and Adelstein, S.J. Cost-Effectiveness Calculations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Tuberculosis Meningitis. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 5:271–276, 1980.
Hartunian, N.S., Smart, C.N., and Thompson, M.S. The Incidence and Economic Costs of Cancer, Motor Vehicle Injuries, Coronary Heart Disease, and Stroke: A Comparative Analysis. Am. J. Pub. H., 70(12):1249–1260, 1980.
The Economic Impact of Cesarean Childbirth. Invited critique, NIH Consensus Development Conference on Cesarean Childbirth, September 1980.
Thompson, M.S., and Cohen, A. Decision Analysis: Electronic Fetal Monitoring. Pp. 109–140 in Wortman, P., ed., Methods for Evaluating Health Services. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1981.
Thompson, M.S., McNeil, B.J., Ganatra, R.D., Larsen, P.R., and Adelstein, S.J. Cost-Effectiveness of Screening for Hypo- and Hyperthyroidism in India. Medical Decision Making, 1(1):44–58, 1981.
Decision Analytic Determination of Study Size: The Case of Electronic Fetal Monitoring. Medical Decision Making, 1(2):165–179, 1981.
Thompson, M.S., Rothrock, J.K., Strain, R., and Palmer, R.H. Cost Analysis for Program Evaluation. Pp. 31–46 in Conner, R., ed., Methodological Advances in Evaluation Research. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1981.
McNeil, B.J., Dudley, R.A., Hoop, B., Metz, C., Thompson, M.S., and Adelstein, S.J. A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Screening for Hepatitis B Surface Antigen in India. Medical Decision Making, 1(4):345–359, 1981.
Thompson, M.S., Cohen, A.B., and Fortess, E.E. Evaluation of Diagnostic Procedures: A Review of the Issues. Evaluation and Program Planning, 4:385–396, 1981.
Thompson, M.S., Read, J.L., and Liang, M.H. Willingness-to-Pay Concepts for Societal Decisions in Health. Pp. 103–125 in Kane, R.L., and Kane, R.A., eds., Values and Long-Term Care. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1982.
Cohen, A.B., Klapholz, H., and Thompson, M.S. Electronic Fetal Monitoring and Clinical Practice: A Survey of Obstetric Opinion. Medical Decision Making, 2(1):79–94, 1982.
Thompson, M.S., Cohen, A.B., and Palmer, R.H. Decision Making on the Use of Electronic Fetal Monitoring. Seminars in Family Medicine, 3(2):89–94, 1982.
Thompson, M.S., and Cohen, A.B. Should We Measure Valuation of Perinatal Outcomes? Mead Johnson Symposium on Perinatal and Developmental Medicine, 20:47–52, 1982.
The Medical Malpractice Mess. Journal of Contemporary Studies, 6(1):17–26, 1983.
Thompson, M.S., Palmer, R.H., Rothrock, J.K., Strain, R., Brachman, L.H., and Wright, E.A. The Cost of Quality Assurance in Medicine. Evaluation and the Health Professions, 6(3):283–297, 1983.
Health Versus Money: Value Judgments in the Perspective of Decision Analysis. Medical Decision Making, 3(3):285–297, 1983.
Palmer, R.H., Strain, R., Maurer, J.V.W., and Thompson, M.S. A Method for Evaluating Performance of Ambulatory Pediatric Tasks. Pediatrics, 73:269–276, 1984.
Thompson, M.S., Read, J.L., and Liang, M.H. Feasibility of Willingness-to-Pay Measurement in Chronic Arthritis. Medical Decision Making, 4(2):192–215, 1984.
Thompson, M.S., and King, C.P. Physician Perceptions of Medical Malpractice Processes and Defensive Medicine. Evaluation and Program Planning, 7(1):95–104, 1984.
Liang, M.H., Larson, M., Thompson, M.S., et al. Costs and Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 27(5):522–529, 1984.
Palmer, R.H., Strain, R., Maurer, J.V.W., Rothrock, J.K., and Thompson, M.S. Quality Assurance in Eight Adult Medicine Group Practices. Medical Care, 22(7):632–643, 1984.
Thompson, M.S., Palmer, R.H., Rothrock, J.K., et al. Resource Requirements for Evaluating Ambulatory Health Care. Am. J. Pub. H., 74(11):1244–1248, 1984.
Strain, R., Palmer, R.H., Maurer, J.V.W., Lyons, L.A., and Thompson, M.S. Implementing Quality Assurance Studies in Ambulatory Care. Quality Review Bulletin, 10(6):168–173, 1984.
Measuring Health Benefits. Pp. 94–108 in Clayson, D., Krewski, D., and Munro, I., eds., Toxicological Risk Assessment. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 1985.
Willingness to Pay and Accept Risks to Cure Chronic Disease. Am. J. Pub. H., 76(4):392–396, 1986.
Interpreting National Health Data: An Overview. Hospital Therapy (special supplement):2–11, 1987.
Thompson, M.S., Read, J.L., Hutchings, H.C., and Harris, E.D. The Cost-Effectiveness of Auranofin. Journal of Rheumatology, 15(1):35–42, 1988.
Thompson, M.S., and Zeckhauser, R.J. For Quebec: Independence, Non! Deregulation, Yes! The New York Times, August 8, 1988, p. A17 (Op-Ed).
Thompson, M.S., and Brooks, J. The Range of Partnership Investments: Guidelines for Fiduciary Administration. Trusts & Estates, November 1988:27–35.
Thompson, M.S., and Meyer, H.M. The Costs of AIDS: Alternative Methodological Approaches. Pp. 95–106 in Health Services Research Methodology: A Focus on AIDS. Rockville, MD: NCHSR, 1989.
Thompson, M.S., and Cohen, A.B. The Feasibility of Willingness-to-Pay Measurement in Health Services Research. Pp. 27–34 in Costs and Benefits in Health Care and Prevention. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1990.
Thompson, M.S., and von Stackelberg, K. Divide and Conquer. Financial Planning, June 1990:91–92.
Thompson, M.S., and Liang, M.H. Examples of Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Rheumatic Diseases. Pp. 45–50 in Costs of Illness and Benefits of Drug Treatment. Munich: W. Zuckschwerdt Verlag, 1990.
Thompson, M.S., and Spunt, E.E. The Widespread Overvaluation of Fractional Ownership Positions. Trusts & Estates, June 1993:62–66.
Thompson, M.S., and Dagbjartsson, E. Market Discounting of Partial Ownership Interests. The Appraisal Journal, October 1994:535–541.
Overcoming the Tensions and Antagonisms of the Cold War to Create a Research Institute of International Eminence. Negotiation Journal, 33(4):347–350, 2017.