I am a Research Economist at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics and a Research Associate at the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.

I am an applied microeconomist working on topics that contribute to creating a happier and better-functioning society. My expertise lies in economics of health, economics of wellbeing, behavioural economics and applied econometrics.  

You can find my CV here and contact me at e.oparina@lse.ac.uk.
You can find me on Twitter and Google Scholar.

Recent and upcoming talks 

CEP Annual Conference (17/05), Office for National Statistics (invited talk, 29/05), Highland Health Economics Symposium (05/06), Var Leer Foundation (invited talk, 06/06), IFS-CAGE Workshop on the Economics of Mental Health (18/06), Warwich Business School (invited talk, 26/06), EEA-ESEM Congress (26/08)

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Join our weekly LSE Wellbeing seminar on Thursdays 4 pm – 5 pm (London time)

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Job Market Paper

Oparina, E.* (r) Krekel, C. (r) Srisuma, S. (2024). Talking Therapy: Impacts of a Nationwide Mental Health Service. 

* corresponding author, (r) for the random order of authors

[latest version]

CEP Discussion Paper, IZA Discussion Paper 

Media coverage: IZA Opinion Piece

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Abstract: Common mental health problems impose significant costs, yet healthcare systems often overlook them. We provide the first causal evidence on the effectiveness of a pioneering nationwide mental health service in England for treating depression and anxiety using non-experimental data and methods. We exploit oversubscription and resulting variations in waiting times for identification, based on a novel dataset of over one million patients. We find that treatment improves mental health and reduces impairment in work and social life. We also provide suggestive evidence that it enhances employment. However, impacts vary across patients, services, and areas. Nevertheless, the programme is highly cost-effective.

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Why I decided to become an economist