Frances Woolley is a professor of economics at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

, Canada, and has been teaching there since 1990. She holds a B.A. from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, a M.A. from Queen's University, and a Ph.D. from

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

under the supervision of

Tony Atkinson Sir Anthony Barnes Atkinson (4 September 1944 – 1 January 2017) was a British economist, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, and senior research fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. A student of James Meade, Atkinson vi ...

. Her thesis was title
Economic models of family decision-making, with applications to intergenerational justice
Her research includes fields such as

public finance Public finance refers to the monetary resources available to governments and also to the study of finance within government and role of the government in the economy. Within academic settings, public finance is a widely studied subject in man ...

labour economics Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the Market (economics), markets for wage labour. Labour (human activity), Labour is a commodity that is supplied by labourers, usually in exchange for a wage paid by demanding ...

, as well as family and public policies. She has served as secretary treasurer and president of the Canadian Economics Association and co-editor of ''

Review of Economics of the Household The ''Review of Economics of the Household'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 2001 by Shoshana Grossbard and first published in 2003. It publishes empirical and theoretical research on the economic behavior and decision-making p ...

'', on the editorial boards of ''

Feminist Economics Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practitio ...

'' and the '' Journal of Socio-Economics'', and as the associate dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs at

. In recent years, she has been devoting more time to writing on her blog, Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, and to writing for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

''. In describing herself, she says, "I theorize about life" and uses economics to relate to things that happen in everyday life.

Education

Woolley received a B.A. (Hon) from

in British Columbia in 1985. She received a M.A. in economics from Queen's University in Ontario in 1986, and went on to pursue her Ph.D. in economics in London School of Economics (LSE), where she graduated in 1990. At LSE, her thesis was ''Economic Models of Family Decision Making, with Applications to Intergenerational Justice.''Woolley, Frances. Curriculum vitae. https://carleton.ca/fwoolley/wp-content/uploads/Woolley-CV-March-2019.pdf.

Career

Teaching

Woolley started as a visiting lecturer in the department of economics at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

from 1989 to 1990. In 1997, she worked as a visiting assistant professor in the department of economics at

. From 1990 to 1998, she worked in

as assistant professor, where she later became associate professor from 1998 to 2003 and professor starting 2003. From 2013 to 2016, she also served as the associate dean of curriculum and planning at faculty of public affairs at

Editorial

In 2007, Woolley served as the member on the editorial board of '' Journal of Socio-Economics''. From 1999 to 2004 and from 2007 onward, she has been on the editorial board of ''

'', where she also served as the book reviews editor and associate editor from 2004 to 2005 and associate editor from 2005 to 2007. From 2005 to 2008, she was the associate editor of ''

'', where she holds the position of co-editor from 2009 to 2012. From 2007 to 2011, Woolley was also the business editor of '' Canadian Public Policy''.

Selected work

Woolley's research interests and expertise include but not limited to economics of the family, gender and intra-household inequality, taxation/benefits of/for families, interdisciplinarity and feminist economics.

Professional honours and highlighted work

Professional honours

*2017-2018: President, Canadian Economics Association *2001: Doug Purvis Memorial Prize *:“Taxing Canadian Families: What’s Fair, What’s Not” ''Choices'' vol 6(5) July 2000 with Carole Vincen *1997
John Vanderkamp Prize
for best article published in Canadian Public Policy

Highlighted work

“A Cournot-Nash Model of Family Decision Making” (with Zhiqi Chen), ''Economic Journal'', Vol. 111, No. 474 (October 2001), pp. 722–748.

On Google Scholar, this paper is the most cited (336 times) article by Woolley with Zhiqi Chen. The paper simulates a two-person family in which individuals are utility-maximizing yet interdependent due to social and economic causes. The Cournot-Nash game is used in the paper to first reach the equilibrium as an approach to solve the utility-maximizing problem, and then used as a "threat point in a bargaining game". Overall, the paper examines the issues within the households related to resource allocation, bargaining power, as well as under the influence of public policy.

“Ending Universality: The Case of Child Benefits” Canadian Public Policy, 22(1): 24-39, 1996. (with A. Vermaeten and J. Madill. Principal author, Frances Woolley; secondary author, Judith Madill; research assistance, Arndt Vermaeten.)

Woolley won the John Vanderkamp Price for best article published in Canadian Public Policy in 1997 with this article, where she was the principal author with Judith Madill being the secondary author and Arndt Vermaeten being the research assistant. The paper explores the effect of 1993 child tax benefit as well as the tax and benefit system, evaluating who are the beneficiaries of the benefits. The paper argues that the greatest net beneficiaries of were lower-middle income families instead of the poorest family due to the tax system. It also argues that earned income supplement would in general lead to an increase in marginal tax rate in Canada due to tax back provision.

“Taxing Canadian Families: What’s Fair, What’s Not” ''Choices'' vol 6(5) July 2000 with Carole Vincent

Woolley won the Outstanding Research Contribution Award, Canadian Policy Research Awards in 2000 as well as the Doug Purvis Memorial Prize due to her work that she created with Carole Vincent. The book looks at household economics and provides analysis on family taxation issues. In particular, the book explores issues including taxation on families taking into account of child care, lower-income families, as well as family arrangement. The book proposes some policy solutions with the intention to solve the problems around these issues mentioned above in the Canadian system.