Maksym Obrizan
Fellow 2023/2024
Economics
Kyiv School of Economics
Volkswagen Stiftung
mobrizan@gmail.com
Bio
Maksym Obrizan is an Associate Professor at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) which he joined in 2010 as an Assistant Professor after getting his PhD in Economics from the University of Iowa (USA). Over his career he published 22 papers in refereed journals listed in SCOPUS with more than 600 citations and an h-index of 10. His research interests include economics of transition, applied health economics and macroeconomics. In particular, he published in WHO Bulletin, World Development, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Comparative Economics among others. Maksym Obrizan is the editor of RePEc New Economic Papers in Transition economics and a regular reviewer of academic papers for international outlets. He writes blog articles for VoX Ukraine and regularly participates in international conferences.
He also has 20 years of teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate levels in USA, Ukraine, Georgia and Germany as well as in short-term trainings for business audiences. In recognition of his teaching performance, Maksym Obrizan twice received KSE Best Professor Award based on student evaluations in the MA Program in Economic Analysis.
As a consultant, Maksym Obrizan has contributed to a number of projects from the World Bank, USAID, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, EBRD and the Economist Intelligence Unit both in Ukraine and internationally. Most recently, he has been a Secretariat Researcher at the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All.
Socio-Economic Consequences of Smoking in Ukraine Before and During the War
Tobacco use remains a significant threat to public health and Ukraine had the highest death rate from smoking among males even before the war. But tobacco use also brings about a significant socio-economic burden that falls disproportionately on the most vulnerable populations and the situation could have worsened during the war.
While there are many studies focusing on prevalence of tobacco use in Ukraine, the main focus of my study will be on socio-economic burden of this deadly habit. In particular, it is important to understand how tobacco use contributes to poverty and out-of-pocket health expenditures in households with smokers compared to other households. To achieve the purpose, I plan to utilize the household budget survey (HBS) data from UkrStat for the year 2021, as well as subsequent years when they become available. HBS is a representative sample of 7,000 households in Ukraine with a wide array of questions related to the topic of this study. I plan to employ a number of empirical methods such as linear regression, quantile regression and one of causal methods such as propensity scoring method or difference-in-difference model.
The VUIAS Fellowship's emphasis on interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration perfectly aligns with the goals of this research, as it recognizes the interconnectedness of different academic disciplines in addressing complex societal challenges such as deadly tobacco use which generates additional costs among many dimensions.