Deborah Cobb-Clark

Deborah Cobb-Clark AO FASSA is Professor of Applied Economics and Deputy Head (Research) in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She earned a PhD in Economics from the University of Michigan in 1990. Prior to joining the University of Sydney in 2016, she held the position of Ronald Henderson Professor of Economics and Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. Earlier in her career, she was the founding director of the Social Policy Evaluation, Analysis and Research (SPEAR) Centre at the Australian National University, served as a labour economist at the US Department of Labor, and worked at Illinois State University. She currently directs the Program in Gender and Families at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany, and serves as Deputy Director and Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.

Professor Cobb-Clark's research specializations centre on the effects of social policy on labour market outcomes, including immigration, sexual and racial harassment, health, old-age support, education and youth transitions, as well as social and economic disadvantage, mental health, early childhood development, adolescents, family economics, and behavioural economics. She has published more than 100 articles in leading academic journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, and Labour Economics. Key publications include 'Locus of Control and the Labor Market' (IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 2015), 'Depression, Risk Preferences, and Risk-Taking Behavior' (Journal of Human Resources, 2022), 'The Effect of Quarantining Welfare on School Attendance in Indigenous Communities' (Journal of Human Resources, 2023), and 'Sophistication about Self-Control' (Journal of Public Economics, 2024). A former co-editor of the Journal of Population Economics, her contributions have significantly influenced policy discussions on disadvantage and family dynamics. Major honours include appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2024 for distinguished service to economic research, tertiary education, and the social sciences, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA), and Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia (2018).

Professional Email: deborah.cobb-clark@sydney.edu.au