Emily Oster

Expecting Better Emily Oster

An award-winning social scientist uses the tools of economics to debunk myths about pregnancy and to empower women to make better decisions while they're expecting. Pregnancy is full of rules. Pregnant women are often treated as if they were children, given long lists of items to avoid -- alcohol, caffeine, sushi -- without any real explanation from their doctors about why. They hear frightening and contradictory myths from friends and pregnancy books about everything from weight gain to sleeping on yourback to bed rest. Economist Emily Oster believes there is a better way. In Expecting Better, she shows that the information given to pregnant women is sometimes wrong and almost always oversimplified, and she debunks a host of standard recommendations oneverything from drinking to fetal testing. Offering the real-world advice one would never get at the doctor's office, she helps expecting mothers know more so they can worry less.