Karen Mumford
Professor of Economics and Labour Market Diversity

Profile

Biography

Karen Mumford specialises in labour economics and quantitative social science. She received her PhD from the Australian National University (ANU). Karen has been the Chair of the Royal Economic Society (RES) Women's Committee, Convenor of the UK Work Pensions and Economics Group (WPEG), a Harkness Fellow and a Leverhulme Fellow. She is currently a Member of the National Health Service Pay Review Body (NHSPRB), an elected Member of the RES Council, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and an IZA Research Fellow. She was appointed CBE for services to Economics and Labour Market Diversity in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List.

Subject Group

Work Management and Organisation

Departmental roles

Director Postgraduate Research

University roles

• Faculty Board, elected member
• University Partnership and Enterprise Committee, elected Faculty representative
• UofY ESRC Peer Review College, member
• Research Centre for Social Sciences Steering Group, member
• Member, York Asia Research Network (YARN) Steering Committee
  

External roles

• Royal Economic Society Council, elected member
• National Health Service Pay Review Body, member

Research

Overview

Karen’s research is concerned with labour economics and human resource management, her research topics include: wage bargaining; industrial disputation; employment dynamics; the relative labour market position of women; job satisfaction; implications from considering networks; and consequences from using the family as the unit of analysis. 

Projects

• "Pay and Well-Being in the NHS: The Role of Networks" with Anna Einarsdottir and Yvonne Berks.
• “Workplace Selection and Gender Pay Gaps in Britain” with Peter N. Smith.
• “On the Recognition of Research Excellence for Lecturers in UK Economics: Outputs, Gender and Inclusivity” with  Richard McManus  and Cristina Sechel.
• “Job Satisfaction and the Quality of Jobs” with Peter N. Smith
• LPC Project: Gender Pay Gap and Low Pay in the UK

Supervision

• Maraziotis, Filippos, University of York. Topic: “Essays in Applied Microeconometrics: Applications from Household and Family Economics". 

Former Research Students

My former research students include:

• Meng Ni, University of York, degree awarded 2020. Topic: “The Stigma of ‘The Third Gender’: Understanding Chinese Female PhDs in China and the UK.”  
• Edith Aguirre Rodriguez, University of York, degree awarded 2019. Topic: "Essays on the Economics of the Family in Mexico". (Now at ISER, University of Essex.)
• Ruben Martinez Cardenas, University of York, degree awarded 2017. Topic: “Essays on the Microeconomic Analysis of Choice, Trust, and Organised Crime with an Emphasis on Mexico”  (Now at Leicester Business School, De Montford University).
• Cristina Sechel, University of York, degree awarded 2016. Topic: "Essays on the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being across Countries" (Now at the Department of Economics, University of Sheffield).
• Andrew Sutton, University of York, degree awarded 2014. Topic: "Gross Worker Flows and the Great Recession in the United Kingdom." (Now at Debt and Reserves Management, H M Treasury.).
• Laura C. Rojas Blanco, University of York, degree awarded 2013. Topic: “The Influence of Gender Beliefs and Early Exposure to Math, Science and Technology in Female Degree Choices.” (Now at the Department of Economics, University of Costa Rica.)
• Yekaterina Chzhen, University of York, degree awarded 2011. Topic: “ Gender Differences in Earnings and Occupational Attainment in Europe.” (Now at Trinity College, Dublin.)
• Francesco Mariotti, University of York, degree awarded 2011. Topic: “The Economic Analysis of Insecurity: Applications to Job Insecurity, Assets Distribution and Contraceptives Use in a Household Context.” (Now at Alysso, Trento.)
• Yuxin Li, University of York, degree awarded 2008. Topic: “The Accumulation of Human Capital: Evidence from a UK Longitudinal Study.” (Now at the Shanghai International Studies University.)
• Filipe Almeida Santos, University of York, degree awarded 2006. Topic: “Training, Wage Compression and Productivity Outcomes.” (Now at Martifer Solar Group, Portugal.)
• Antonia Nicolau Perara, University of York, degree awarded 2004. Topic: “European Families’ Labour Supply: Empirical Analysis for Britain and Spain.” (Now at the European Commission, Brussels.)
• Vitor Escaria Alvarez, University of York, degree awarded 2004. Topic: “Job Creation and Job Destruction over the Business Cycle in Portugal.” (Now at Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, ISEG, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa.)
• Luis Murillo-Zamorano, University of York, degree awarded 2004. Topic: “Essays on Economic Efficiency and Productivity Growth. (Now at the University of Extremadura.)

Publications

Selected publications

Full details of publications can be found at RePEc

Recent Papers

• Mumford, K., Aguirre, E., Einarsdóttir, A., Lockyer, B., Sayli, M., and Smith, B.A. (2021) “Pay Gaps in the National Health Service: The Puzzle of Observability and Disclosure.” IZA Discussion Paper 14882, June
• McManus, R., Mumford, K. and Sechel, C. (2021) “Measuring Research Excellence among Economics Lecturers in the UK.”  Forthcoming, Bulletin of Economic Research. 
• Mumford, K.A., Parera‑Nicolau, A. and Pena-Boquete, Y. (2020) “Labour Supply and Childcare: Allowing Both Parents to Choose.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 82(3): 577-602.
• Mumford, K. and Sechel, C. (2020) “Pay and Job Rank among Academic Economists in the UK: Is Gender Relevant?” British Journal of Industrial Relations 58(1): 82-113.
• Mumford, K. and Sechel, C. (2019) “Job Satisfaction among Academic Economists in the UK” Economic Letters 182: 55-58.
• Mumford, K.A. and Sechel, C. (2019) “The Gender Pay Gap among Economists in the UK.” LSE Business Review 5.11.19. 

Recent Reports

• Einarsdóttir, A., Mumford, K., Birks, Y., Lockyer, B., and Sayli, M. Understanding LGBT+ Employee Networks and How to Support Them. Final report for ESRC funded grant award ES/N019334/1. October 2020, 55 pp.
• Einarsdóttir, A., Mumford, K., Birks, Y., Aguirre, E., Lockyer, B., and Sayli, M. LGBT+ Employee Networks Within the NHS: Technical Report and Data Addendum. Supplementary report for ESRC funded grant award ES/N019334/1. October 2020, 149 pp.
• Butcher, T. Mumford, K. and Smith, P.N. The Gender Earnings Gap in British Workplaces: A Knowledge Exchange Report. September 2019.

Full publications list

Compositions

Recordings

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Quantitative Methods

Postgraduate

• Methods for Critical Literature Reviewing and Dissemination

External activities

Overview

Memberships

• National Health Service Pay Review Body, Member
• Royal Economic Society Council, Member (elected)
• Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labor Economics
• Member, York Asia Research Network (YARN) Steering Committee
• Fellow Royal Society Arts (FRSA)
• Member, WPEG (UK Work Pensions and Economics Group) Steering Committee
• Editorial Board, Australian Journal of Labour Economics
• Editorial Board, Economic Papers

Editorial duties

Invited talks and conferences

Some Recent

• Work, Pensions, and Labour Economics Study Group (WPEG) Annual Conference. Sheffield (online). July 2021. 
• Economic Statistics Working Group (ESWG) - The Gender Pay Gap. London (online). June 2021.
• United Nations, NGO Commission on the Status of Women. New York (online), March 2021
• Western Economic Association International Conference WEAI. Virtual (online), March 2021
• Australian Gender Economics Workshop. Perth (online), February 2021.America Economic Associations Meetings. Boston (online), January 2021.
• Women in Business: Positions of Leadership. Dialogue Society. London (online), November 2020.
• Understanding LGBT+ Employee Networks and How to Support Them. Conference. London (Online), October 2020.
• Gender and career progression. Joint Bank of England, Federal Reserve Board and European Central Bank Conference. Frankfurt, October 2019.
• European Economic Association Annual Congress. Manchester, August 2019.
• Gender and Growth Policy Forum. Chatham House, London, July 2019.
• Australian Conference of Economists (ACE). Melbourne, July 2019.
• Work, Pensions and Labour Economics (WPEG) Conference. Sheffield, July 2018.
• Chatham House International Policy Forum G20 2018. Making Gender Equality Happen. London, July 2018.
• Society of Economics of the Household Conference. Paris, May 2018.
• Scottish Economic Society Conference. Perth, April 2018.
• Royal Economic Society Conference. Brighton, March 2018. 

Media coverage

Performances

Business engagement