Research

I am an applied micro-economist. My research uses applied econometric methods to understand policy-relevant behaviour with the aim of guiding policy and practice. During my career, I have studied a broad range of topics in public and labour economics, including pensions and retirement, welfare reform and charitable giving. I have published in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Economic Journal, American Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Health Economics and Journal of Behaviour and Organisation. I am currently working on topics in charitable giving and diversity in economics.

Current projects

Do female experts face an authority gap? Evidence from economics (AEARCTR-0011764) - with Hans Sievertsen (R&R)
Gender differences in the effects of goal-setting interventions: Evidence from a fundraising field experiment - with Mark Wilhelm (submitted)
Challenging stereotypes in economics (AEARCTR-0010148) - with Arun Advani, Laura Harvey

Published papers

The gender gap in expert voice: Evidence from economics (with Hans Sievertsen) Public Understanding of Science (forthcoming) Summary

Measuring academic performance in a more inclusive way (with Erin Hengel and Almudena Sevilla) Research Evaluation (2024)

Lift and Shift: The effect of fundraising interventions in charity space and time (with Mark Ottoni-Wilhelm and Kimberley Scharf) AEJ: Economic Policy (2022). Winner, best paper award, ARNOVA conference 2018. Featured as an AEA journal research highlight

Economics of Philanthropic Tax Incentives (with Jim Andreoni) in Routledge Handbook of Taxation and Philanthropy (2021)

Altruism Born of Suffering: The impact of an adverse health shock on pro-social behavior (with Nicole Black, Elaine de Gruyter, Denis Petrie) Journal of Behavior and Organization (2021). Featured in this VoxEU podcast

Women in Economics: A UK perspective (with Danula Gamage, Almudena Sevilla) Oxford Review of Economic Policy (2021). Summary in CSWEP newsletter

Baby steps: Childcare during the COVID pandemic (with Almudena Sevilla) Oxford Review of Economic Policy (2020). Summary (VoxEU). Discussed in an OXREP webinar and with Sarah Vine on her first podcast

The completion effect in charitable fundraising (with Nichole Argo, David Klinowksi and Tamar Krishnamurti) Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (2020)

Getting a healthy start: The effectiveness of targeted benefits for improving dietary choice (with Stephanie von Hinke and Rachel Griffith) Journal of Health Economics (2018)

Wolves in sheep's clothing: Is non-profit status used as a signal of quality? (with Daniel Jones and Carol Propper) Journal of Health Economics (2017)

Does participation lead to ongoing infrastructure maintenance? Evidence from Caribbean landslide projects (with Erlend Berg, Liz Holcombe, Malcolm Anderson) Journal of Development Studies (2017)