Research Fellows

Research Fellow & Director of Applied Research

Efraim Berkovich is a Research Fellow and serves as Director of Applied Research for Bluestone Institute. Dr. Berkovich was recently the Director of Computational Dynamics at the Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM). Prior to starting at PWBM as a founding member in 2015, he worked as a professor of economics and finance at Manhattanville College in New York. Before getting his PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Efraim had a decade-long career in senior information technology roles at companies such as AXA Financial and Sanford Bernstein (now AllianceBernstein).

At PWBM, Efraim evaluated federal fiscal policy such as tax, immigration, social security, and various welfare programs, with many analyses cited by major media (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Bloomberg, and others). Efraim wrote a series of briefs in 2020 and 2021 which examined the trade-off between the cost of COVID-19 infections and learning loss from school closures (a brief on macroeconomic effects here). He has recently produced a paper on the economic effects of credit card interchange fees (cited in The New Yorker).

Dr. Berkovich’s research interests include: Public Policy, Computational Economics, and Applied Economics

Research Fellow

Kevin W. Christensen, Ph.D. is a Director with BRG, a global consulting firm, and a Bluestone Institute Research Fellow. Dr. Christensen specializes in antitrust & competition policy, public policy, and damages analysis, often these are applied in the context of the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Christensen holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Florida and a B.S. from James Madison University, all in economics. For five years (2018 – 2022), he was selected by Global Competition Review for its Who’s Who Legal: Competition – Future Leaders publication. The publication highlights experts in the field of competition economics under the age of forty-five. From 2011-2022, he was on the board of editors for the Antitrust Magazine Online (formerly, The Antitrust Source), an online publication from the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law. From 2018 to 2021, Dr. Christensen was a member of the James Madison University Economics Department Executive Advisory Board. He served as chair of the Advisory Board for two years. Currently, he is on the Board of Directors for RxPartnership, a part of the health care safety net that provides affordable brand and generic medications to low-income, uninsured Virginians. He also serves as chair of the Board of Directors for Bluestone Institute a 501(c)(3) research institute.

Dr. Christensen’s research interests include: Public Policy, Law & Economics, and Healthcare.

Research Fellow

Philip J. Cross, Ph.D. is Principal and Founder of Kenyon Consulting LLC, and a Bluestone Institute Research Fellow. Dr. Cross specializes in class actions, antitrust analysis, and damages calculations. He has extensive experience in several industries, including higher education, health care, automotive, and probation services.

Dr. Cross is a dual citizen of Australia and the U.S., and holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a B.Com (Hons) from the University of New South Wales. Dr. Cross previously taught in the economics department of Georgetown University, and has held visiting academic positions at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Melbourne. He has published economics articles in some of the world's top peer-reviewed academic journals, and has testified in various State and Federal Courts throughout the U.S.. He has also done consulting work in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Guyana, and India. He is a member of the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the American Statistical Association, the National Association of Forensic Economists, and the American Bar Association.

Dr. Cross’s research interests include: Higher Education Finance, Statistical and Econometric Modelling, Survey Design and Implementation.

Research Fellow