About me

Hi! Thanks for your interest in my profile!

I am on sabbatical Aug '25-Feb '26, currently at University of Zurich (Nov-Dec) and at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and the University of Bergen (Jan '26).

My area of expertise is Economics of Human Development, Lifecycle Analysis, and Econometric Methods. My earlier work almost exclusively focused on understanding the development and stability of, and inequality in personality, preferences and health. My recent research explores how public policy affects human's preferences, health and wellbeing—particularly through the lens of government paternalism.

My work is built on novel linked administrative, survey, cohort, longitudinal, and, in some cases, experimental, data. Where possible, I apply causal identification methods. In some studies I have developed theory or empirical methods to deal with measurement or endogeneity problems. People in my group study wellbeing of First Nations children and  the impact of early life exposure to hard interventions such as child protection facilitations, community alcohol and welfare spending restrictions, bail denial, care at birth, forced separation, lockdown, and compulsory schooling.

My research spans across disciplines, appearing in economics (e.g. The Economic Journal, European Economic Review, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Health Economics), econometrics (Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Journal of Applied Econometrics), medicine (The Lancet, BMJ), science (Nature), and public health (International Journal of Epidemiology) journals. My Erdős number is 6.

I serve as Co-Editor of Labour Economics (Elsevier) and co-organiser of the Australian Workshop of Econometrics and Health Economics (AWEHE).  

Funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Public Policy Institute, and the Rockwool Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.