Research

Female Top Performers are more Impactful Peer Role Models than Males, Teachers Say (with Sofoklis Goulas and Rigissa Megalokonomou), Forthcoming, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), (Impact Factor 9.4).

We examine teachers' perceptions toward top performing students and their role model influence on others in an online survey-based experiment. We randomly expose teachers to profiles of top performing students and inquire whether they consider the profiled top performers to be influential role models. These profiles varied by gender and field of study (STEM or Non-STEM). Our findings show that teachers perceive female top performers as more influential peer role models compared to male top performers (β = 0.289; p < 0.001). We also investigate the qualities teachers perceive top performers who are successful role models to have. We show that teachers associate a greater sense of learning autonomy and sense of being an example with female top performers compared to their male counterparts. Estimated effects are more pronounced among teachers with children and teachers in urban areas. Administrative data from a representative sample show limited observed differences between top performing males and females' educational outcomes that could justify the differences in teachers' gender perceptions. These findings carry significant implications for education, as teachers play a crucial role in directing attention to potential role models.

A Tale of Two Life Stages: The Imprinting Effect of Macroeconomic Contractions on Later Life Entrepreneurship (with Matthew Mount, Cahit Guven, Aydogan Ulker and Carol Graham), 2023, Journal of Business Venturing, (Impact Factor 7.7, FT 50), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106313. Supplementary Material.

Studies argue that macroeconomic contractions create immediate incentives for individuals to pursue entrepreneurship. However, research has not addressed whether past macroeconomic contractions imprint on individuals and influence their future entrepreneurship. Integrating literature on the business cycle and imprinting with insights from lifespan psychology, we develop and test competing theoretical arguments aligned to two distinct life stages about when a macroeconomic contraction will imprint on individuals to influence their future entrepreneurship, and how such effects are imprinted. Our findings show that only contractions experienced during early adulthood influence entrepreneurship and this effect is transmitted culturally via country-level preferences for time discounting.

Individual Labour Market Transitions of Australians during and after the National COVID-19 Lockdown (with Cahit Guven and Aydogan Ulker), 2022, Applied Economics, (Impact Factor 1.8), DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2022.2094881. Supplementary Material.

We examine the individual labour market transitions of Australians during and after the National COVID-19 Lockdown, controlling for demographic characteristics and person fixed effects across different subgroups of the population using the Longitudinal Labour Force Survey. The National COVID-19 Lockdown (which began on 21 March 2020 with the introduction of social distancing rules and the closure of non-essential services across individual states and territories and lasted until the end of June 2020) decreased the overall labour force participation by 3% and increased unemployment by 1.8%. However, the economy recovered to a certain extent after the lockdown, with labour force participation increasing by 0.051% and unemployment declining by 0.049% for each additional week after the end of the lockdown. Our conditional estimates show that the national lockdown did not affect the genders differently in terms of unemployment, while females recovered faster during the post-lockdown period. People working in transport, postal, administrative, and arts and recreation services decreased their working hours significantly during the lockdown relative to those employed in other industries, but we do not observe any significant difference in their post-lockdown recovery patterns. Our results could help policy makers better target the labour market outcomes of the most at-risk individuals.

The Impact of Minimum Wages on Overall Health and Well-being: Evidence from the Gallup World Poll (with Cahit Guven, Aydogan Ulker, and Carol Graham), R&R

We examine the impact of minimum wage increases on the overall personal health and subjective well-being of low-skilled workers using the Gallup World Poll from 2009 to 2020. Identification is achieved through variations across 87 countries in the timing of their minimum wage increases. Our findings suggest that a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage leads to a 0.79 percent increase in personal health and a 2.14 percent increase in subjective well-being at the outcome means. Minimum wage hikes are associated with higher income, reduced likelihood of engaging in overtime work, more social interactions, and more positive life experiences. The benefits of minimum wage increases are more pronounced for male workers and for individuals residing in countries with access to free and universal healthcare. A series of sensitivity and placebo tests confirm the robustness of these findings.

• Best Presentation Award in the Faculty of Business and Law at the Curtin EMCR Symposium.

Linguistic Integration Improves Refugee Physical and Mental Health (with Astghik Mavisakalyan, and Yashar Tarverdi), R&R

Based on existing evidence, refugees have considerably poorer health outcomes relative to other immigrants and the native-born population. Little is known, however, on what works to achieve improvements in refugees' health. Using a unique longitudinal survey from Australia, this paper shows that linguistic integration is an important marker of health among the refugee population. In particular, linguistically integrated refugees have significantly better physical and mental health outcomes, relative to their linguistically marginalised counterparts. Our analysis additionally highlights the significance of maintaining attachment to one's own language, in addition to acquiring English proficiency, for individuals' well-being. The results point to the role of social integration as the key transmission channel. Linguistically integrated individuals are more likely to make friends and socialise with neighbours, as well as understand and trust the community more broadly. Effects are more pronounced for women and younger refugees. A battery of sensitivity tests confirms the robustness of our results.

Barriers to Citizenship and the Socio-Economic Integration of Australian Immigrants: Evidence from the 2007 Reform (with Cahit Guven and Aydogan Ulker)

Drivers of Economic assimilation of immigrants by visa type (with Cem Ozguzel, Jasper Jesse, and Aydogan Ulker)

Dowry, Expectations, and Intimate Partner Violence (with Munirul Nabin, Sukanto Bhattacharya, Vijay Mohan, and Prasad S. Bhattacharya)