Bacchus Barua | MA BA | Economist

Bacchus Barua is an economist specializing in healthcare policy with over 15 years of experience in the think-tank world. He is a frequent commentator on radio and television, and his articles have appeared in well-known news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, National Post, Globe and Mail, Maclean’s, and forbes.com. He was also invited to provide testimony as part of a panel of witnesses for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health (HESA) in 2022.

As the former Director for Health Policy Studies at the Fraser Institute, Bacchus conducted research on a range of key healthcare topics including hospital performance, access to new pharmaceuticals, the sustainability of health-care spending, the impact of aging on health-care expenditures, and international comparisons of health-care systems. He also designed the Provincial Healthcare Index (2013), co-lead the creation of Comparing Performance of Universal Health Care Countries (2016-2024) and co-authored the Fraser Institute’s annual Waiting Your Turn survey for over a decade (2010–2024).

Bacchus completed his B.A. (Honours) in Economics at the University of Delhi (Ramjas College) and received an M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University where he specialized in Experimental Economics and Natural Resource Management. Bacchus also developed a passion for Environmental Economics after attending a summer school programme at the London School of Economics (LSE), and volunteers his time as a peer-reviewer for the Elsevier Social Science & Medicine Journal.