Book 1

Expecting Better

by Emily Oster

Published 20 August 2013
Pregnancy--unquestionably one of the most profound, meaningful experiences of adulthood--can reduce otherwise intelligent women to, well, babies. We're told to avoid cold cuts, sushi, alcohol, and coffee, but aren't told why. Rules for prenatal testing are hard and fast--and unexplained. Are all of these recommendations right for every mom-to-be? Here, the author shows that pregnancy rules are often misguided and sometimes flat-out wrong. Pregnant women face an endless stream of decisions, from the casual to the frightening. Expecting Better presents the hard facts and real-world advice you won't get at the doctor's office or in the existing literature.

Book 2

Cribsheet

by Emily Oster

Published 23 April 2019
'Emily Oster is the non-judgemental girlfriend holding our hand and guiding us through pregnancy and motherhood. She has done the work to get us the hard facts in a soft, understandable way' Amy Schumer

Parenting is full of decisions, nearly all of which can be agonized over. There is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and strangers on the internet. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the trade-offs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision?

Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn't always hold up. She debunks myths and offers non-judgemental ways to consider our options in light of the facts. Cribsheet is a thinking parent's guide that empowers us to make better, less fraught decisions - and stay sane in the years before preschool.

*Now you can navigate the primary school years with Emily Oster too, in her new book The Family Firm, out now*

Book 3

The Family Firm

by Emily Oster

Published 3 August 2021
The instant New York Times bestseller!

“Emily Oster dives into the data on parenting issues, cuts through the clutter, and gives families the bottom line to help them make better decisions.” –Good Morning America

“A targeted mini-MBA program designed to help moms and dads establish best practices for day-to-day operations." -The Washington Post


From the bestselling author of Expecting Better and Cribsheet, the next step in data driven parenting from economist Emily Oster.

In The Family Firm, Brown professor of economics and mom of two Emily Oster offers a classic business school framework for data-driven parents to think more deliberately about the key issues of the elementary years: school, health, extracurricular activities, and more.

Unlike the hourly challenges of infant parenting, the big questions in this age come up less frequently. But we live with the consequences of our decisions for much longer. What's the right kind of school and at what age should a particular kid start? How do you encourage a healthy diet? Should kids play a sport and how seriously? How do you think smartly about encouraging children's independence? Along with these bigger questions, Oster investigates how to navigate the complexity of day-to-day family logistics.

Making these decisions is less about finding the specific answer and more about taking the right approach. Parents of this age are often still working in baby mode, which is to say, under stress and on the fly. That is a classic management problem, and Oster takes a page from her time as a business school professor at the University of Chicago to show us that thoughtful business process can help smooth out tough family decisions.

The Family Firm is a smart and winning guide to how to think clearly--and with less ambient stress--about the key decisions of the elementary school years.

Parenting is a full-time job. It's time we start treating it like one.