Jenny Williams

Professor Jenny Williams is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics within the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. She earned her Ph.D. from Rice University in Houston, Texas, in 1997. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne in 2003, she held an appointment at the University of Adelaide and a visiting appointment at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Economics in 2012. Williams' research interests lie broadly within the area of applied microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on the behavior of youth and risky decisions. She empirically investigates the ways in which decisions and circumstances faced during youth impact success in later life.

Her work applies this perspective to study the causes and consequences of delinquent and criminal behavior, the determinants of substance use including government policies, the impact of substance use on mental health, education, and labor market outcomes, as well as determinants of child health and fertility-related decisions of young women. Williams uses both survey data and administrative data to provide policy-relevant insights into the determinants of people's choices and to evaluate the impact of policy on those choices. She is particularly interested in evaluating policy effects on decisions about substance use and crime, and understanding how these decisions affect other areas of life, including mental health, work, and schooling. Her key research areas include health economics, microeconometrics, and policy evaluation. Selected publications feature 'Early Cannabis Use and School to Work Transition of Young Men' (2017), 'Bad Behavior: Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving' (2015), 'Cannabis Use and Its Effects on Health, Education and Labor Market Success' (2014), 'Cannabis use and suicidal ideation' (2012), and 'The Effects of Cannabis Use on Physical and Mental Health' (2011). Her scholarship has been cited more than 2,840 times on Google Scholar, underscoring her influence in applied microeconomics and related fields. She maintains affiliations with CEPR and IZA.

Professional Email: jenny.williams@unimelb.edu.au