Rate My Professor Stephen Whelan

Professor Stephen Whelan serves as Professor and Head of the School of Economics within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University of British Columbia in 2003. His doctoral thesis investigated the use of social welfare programs in Canada and their subsequent impact on labour market outcomes. Upon completing his PhD, Whelan joined the University of Sydney, where he has held progressive academic appointments, including Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor, leading to his current professorial and leadership role.

Whelan's research specializations encompass housing economics and applied microeconometrics, with key interests in applied economics, public policy, labour economics, social policy, social welfare, childcare assistance, and housing markets. Current projects examine the effects of housing assistance on labour market participation in Australia, supported by funding from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, as well as the implications of childcare subsidies for women's employment decisions and retirement income adequacy. His scholarship addresses intergenerational transfers and first-time homeownership, housing wealth's influence on fertility intentions and realized births, and housing costs' role in marital stability. Prominent publications feature "House prices, wealth and consumption: New evidence from Australia and Canada" (Review of Income and Wealth, 2016, with K. Atalay and J. Yates), "The relationship between intergenerational transfers, housing and economic outcomes" (AHURI Final Report No. 250, 2015, with G. Barrett, M. Cigdem, and G. Wood), "The decline of the self-employment rate in Australia" (The Australian Economic Review, 2014, with K. Atalay and W. Kim), "Housing wealth, fertility intentions and fertility" (Journal of Housing Economics, 2021, with K. Atalay and A. Li), and "The Bank of Mum & Dad – intergenerational transfers and first-time homeownership" (Journal of Population Economics, 2024). Through these contributions, Whelan advances understanding of housing policy's intersections with family and labour dynamics in Australia.