Professor Sarah Brown

School of Economics

Professor of Economics

sarah.brown@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3404

+44 114 222 3458 (fax)

Room 531, 9 Mappin Street

Full contact details

Professor Sarah Brown
School of Economics
Room 531
9 Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 4DT

Profile

Sarah graduated from the University of Hull in 1989 and gained her MA in Economics at the University of Warwick in 1990 and her PhD from the University of Loughborough and was appointed to a lectureship there in 1994.

Sarah was promoted to a senior lectureship in 2001 at the University of Leicester. She took up a Chair in Economics at the University of Sheffield in 2005 and was Head of Department from 2006 to 2011.

Sarah is a Research Fellow at the IZA (Institute for the Study of Labour, Bonn) and an Associate Fellow at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). She has been a member of the Department for Work and Pensions Steering Committee for the Work, Pensions and Labour Economics Study Group (WPEG) since 2001. Sarah is currently the President of the Scottish Economic Society and a Managing Editor of the Bulletin of Economic Research.

Sarah was a member of: the Grant Assessment Panel C of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) from 2010 to 2013; the REF 2014 Economics & Econometrics Sub-Panel; the Women's Committee of the Royal Economic Society from 2010 to 2015; the Steering Group of the Royal Economic Society Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics from 2010 to 2016; and the Royal Economic Society Council from 2013 to 2018. Sarah was an Independent Member of the Low Pay Commission from 2015 to 2021.

In 2012 Sarah was awarded a two-year Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship for a project entitled Household Finances, Intergenerational Attitudes and Social Interaction.

Research interests: Sarah's research interests lie in the area of applied microeconometrics focusing on labour economics, the economics of education and household finances. She is interested in supervising PhD students in any of these areas.

Publications

Journal articles

Alzuabi R, Brown S, Gray D, Harris MN & Spencer C (2023) Portfolio allocation and borrowing constraints. The European Journal of Finance, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-34.
Brown S, Mark NH, Christopher S & Taylor KB (2023) Financial expectations and household consumption: does middle-inflation matter?. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.
Alzuabi R, Brown S & Taylor K (2022) Charitable behaviour and political affiliation: evidence for the UK. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 100. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Popli G & Sasso A (2022) Decomposing the gender reservation wage gap in Italy : a regional perspective. Journal of Regional Science, 62(2), 499-540. View this article in WRRO
Das K, Pareek B, Brown S & Ghosh P (2022) A semi-parametric Bayesian dynamic hurdle model with an application to the health and retirement study. Computational Statistics, 37(2), 837-863.
Alzuabi R, Brown S, Gray D, Harris MN & Spencer C (2022) Household saving, health, and healthcare utilization in Japan. Oxford Economic Papers, 74(2), 473-497. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Kontonikas A, Montagnoli A, Moro M & Onnis L (2021) Life satisfaction and austerity: expectations and the macroeconomy. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 95. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Ghosh P, Pareek B & Taylor K (2021) The protective role of saving: Bayesian analysis of British panel data. Journal of Empirical Finance, 63, 57-72.
Brown S, Gray D, Harris MN & Spencer C (2021) Household portfolio allocation, uncertainty, and risk. Journal of Empirical Finance, 63, 96-117. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Gosh P, Gray D, Pareek B & Roberts J (2021) Saving behaviour and health: A high-dimensional Bayesian analysis of British panel data. The European Journal of Finance, 27(16), 1581-1603. View this article in WRRO
Trinh T-A, Srivastava P & Brown S (2021) Household expenditure and child health in Vietnam: analysis of longitudinal data. Journal of Demographic Economics.
Brown S, Harris MN & Spencer C (2020) Modelling category inflation with multiple inflation processes : estimation, specification, and testing. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 82(6), 1342-1361. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Greene WH & Harris M (2020) A novel approach to latent class modelling: identifying the various types of body mass index individuals. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, 183(3), 983-1004. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Gray D & Montagnoli A (2019) Credit supply shocks and household leverage: evidence from the US banking deregulation. Journal of Financial Stability, 43, 97-115. View this article in WRRO
Zhu J, Pryce GB & Brown S (2019) Immigration and house prices under various labour market structures in England and Wales. Urban Studies, 56(9), 1801-1817. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Harris M, Srivastava P & Zhang X (2016) Modelling Illegal Drug Participation. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A . View this article in WRRO
Brown S & Gray D (2016) Household Finances and Well-Being in Australia: An Empirical Analysis of Comparison Effects. Journal of Economic Psychology, 53, 17-36. View this article in WRRO
Brown S & Taylor KB (2016) Early influences on saving behaviour: Analysis of British panel data. Journal of Banking and Finance, 62, 1-14. View this article in WRRO
Mukherji A, Roychoudhury S, Ghosh P & Brown S (2015) Estimating Health Demand for an Aging Population: A Flexible and Robust Bayesian Joint Model. Journal of Applied Econometrics. View this article in WRRO
Taylor KB & Brown S (2015) Household Finances and Social Interaction:Bayesian Analysis of Household Panel Data. Review of Income and Wealth. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Duncan A, Harris MN, Roberts J & Taylor KB (2015) A Zero Inflated Regression Model for Grouped Data. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 77(6), 822-831. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Harris MN, Prendergast J & Srivastava P (2015) Pharmaceutical drug misuse: are industry of employment and occupation risk factors?. Industrial Relations Journal, 46(5-6), 398-417.
Brown S, Greene WH, Harris MN & Taylor K (2015) An inverse hyperbolic sine heteroskedastic latent class panel tobit model: An application to modelling charitable donations. Economic Modelling, 50, 228-236. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Ghosh P, Su L & Taylor K (2015) Modelling household finances: A Bayesian approach to a multivariate two-part model. Journal of Empirical Finance, 33, 190-207. View this article in WRRO
Brown S & Wong WK (2015) Probability and Statistics with Applications in Finance and Economics. The Scientific World Journal, 2015, 1-2.
Brown S, Gray D, McHardy J & Taylor K (2015) Employee trust and workplace performance. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 116, 361-378. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Srivastava P & Taylor KB (2015) Intergenerational Analysis of the Donating Behaviour of Parents and their Offspring. Southern Economic Journal, 82(1), 122-151. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Gray D & Roberts J (2015) The relative income hypothesis: A comparison of methods. Economics Letters, 130, 47-50. View this article in WRRO
Taylor KB & Brown S (2015) The Reservation Wage Curve: Evidence from the UK. Economics Letters, 126, 22-24. View this article in WRRO
Brown S (2015) Household repayment behaviour and neighbourhood effects. Urban Studies, 52(6), 1169-1188.
Brown S, Durand RB, Harris MN & Weterings T (2014) Modelling financial satisfaction across life stages: A latent class approach. Journal of Economic Psychology, 45, 117-127.
Brown S & Taylor K (2014) Household Finances and the ‘Big Five’ Personality Traits. Journal of Economic Psychology, 45, 197-212. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Ghosh P & Taylor KB (2014) The Existence and Persistence of Household Financial Hardship: A Bayesian Multivariate Dynamic Logit Framework. Journal of Banking and Finance, 46, 285-298. View this article in WRRO
Brown S, Hole AR & Kilic D (2014) Out-of-pocket health care expenditure in Turkey: Analysis of the 2003-2008 Household Budget Surveys. Economic Modelling, 41, 211-218.
Brown S, McHardy J & Taylor K (2014) Intergenerational analysis of social interaction and social skills: An analysis of U.S. and U.K. panel data. Economics of Education Review, 40, 43-54.
Brown S & Taylor KB (2013) Reservation wages, expected wages and unemployment. Economics Letters, 119(3), 276-279.
Brown S, Dietrich M, Ortiz-Nuñez A & Taylor KB (2013) Business Ownership and Attitudes towards Risk. Applied Economics, 45(13), 1731-1740.
Brown S, Dickerson A, McHardy J & Taylor K (2012) Gambling and credit: An individual and household level analysis for the UK. Applied Economics, 44(35), 4639-4650.
Brown S, Harris MN & Taylor K (2012) Modelling charitable donations to an unexpected natural disaster: Evidence from the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 84(1), 97-110.
Brown S, Ortiz-Nuñez A & Taylor K (2012) Parental risk attitudes and children's academic test scores: Evidence from the US panel study of income dynamics. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 59(1), 47-70.
Brown S, Taylor K & Garino G (2012) Household debt and attitudes toward risk. Review of Income and Wealth.
Brown S, Garino G & Taylor K (2012) Debt and Risk Preference. Review of Income and Wealth.
Brown S, Roberts J & Taylor K (2011) The gender reservation wage gap: Evidence from British Panel data. Economics Letters, 113(1), 88-91.
Brown S, Ortiz-Nuñez A & Taylor KB (2011) What will I be when I grow up? An analysis of childhood expectations and career outcomes. Economics of Education Review, 30(3), 493-506.
Brown S & Taylor KB (2011) Reservation wages, market wages and unemployment: Analysis of individual level panel data. Economic Modelling, 28(3), 1317-1327.
Brown S, Mcintosh S & Taylor K (2011) Following in Your Parents' Footsteps? Empirical Analysis of Matched Parent-Offspring Test Scores. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 73(1), 40-58.
Brown S, McHardy J, McNabb R & Taylor KB (2011) Workplace performance, worker commitment, and loyalty. Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 20(3), 925-955.
Brown S, Dietrich M, Ortiz-Nuñez A & Taylor KB (2011) Self-employment and attitudes towards risk: Timing and unobserved heterogeneity. Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(3), 425-433.
Brown S, Farrell L & Harris MN (2011) Modeling the incidence of self-employment: Individual and employment type heterogeneity. Contemporary Economic Policy, 29(4), 605-619.
Brown S, Roberts J & Taylor K (2010) Reservation wages, labour market participation and health. J R STAT SOC A STAT, 173, 501-529.
Brown S & Taylor K (2009) Social interaction and children's academic test scores: Evidence from the National Child Development Study. J ECON BEHAV ORGAN, 71(2), 563-578.
Brown S, Garino G & Martin C (2009) Firm performance and labour turnover: Evidence from the 2004 workplace employee relations survey. ECON MODEL, 26(3), 689-695.
Brown S & Taylor K (2008) Bullying, education and earnings: Evidence from the National Child Development Study. ECON EDUC REV, 27(4), 387-401.
Brown S, Fry TRL & Harris MN (2008) Untangling supply and demand in occupational choice. ECON LETT, 99(2), 414-417.
Brown S & Taylor KB (2008) Household debt and financial assets: evidence from Germany, Great Britain and the USA. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, (Statistics in Society), 171, 615-643.
Brown S, Garino G & Taylor K (2008) Mortgages and financial expectations: A household-level analysis. SOUTH ECON J, 74(3), 857-878.
Amess K, Brown S & Thompson S (2007) Management buy outs, supervision and employee discretion. SCOTTISH JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, 54(4), 447-474.
Brown S & Taylor K (2007) Religion and education: Evidence from the National Child Development Study. J ECON BEHAV ORGAN, 63(3), 439-460.
Brown S, Sessions JG & Watson D (2007) The contribution of hour constraints to working poverty in Britain. J POPUL ECON, 20(2), 445-463.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2006) Evidence on the relationship between firm-based screening and the returns to education. ECON EDUC REV, 25(5), 498-509.
Brown S & Taylor KB (2006) Financial expectations, consumption and saving: A microeconomic analysis. Fiscal Studies, 27(3), 313-338.
Brown S, Farrell L, Harris MN & Sessions JG (2006) Risk preference and employment contract type. JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY SERIES A-STATISTICS IN SOCIETY, 169, 849-863.
Brown S, Farrel L & Sessions JG (2006) Self-employment matching: An analysis of dual earner couples and working households. SMALL BUS ECON, 26(2), 155-172.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2006) Some evidence on the relationship between performance-related pay and the shape of the experience-earnings profile. SOUTHERN ECONOMIC JOURNAL, 72(3), 660-676.
Brown S & Taylor KB (2005) Wage growth, human capital and financial investment. Manchester School, 73(6), 686-708.
Brown S, Taylor K & Wheatley Price S (2005) Debt and distress: Evaluating the psychological cost of credit. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26(5), 642-663.
Brown S & Pudney S (2005) Hours constraints and in-work poverty. Bulletin of Economic Research, 57(3), 305-315.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2005) Employee Attitudes, Earnings and Fixed-Term Contracts: International Evidence. Review of World Economics, 141(2), 296-317.
Brown S, Garino G, Taylor KB & Price SW (2005) Debt and financial expectations: An individual- and household-level analysis. Economic Inquiry, 43(1), 100-120.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2003) Attitudes, Expectations and Sharing. Labour, 17(4), 543-569.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2003) Earnings, Education, and Fixed‐Term Contracts. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 50(4), 492-506.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2002) Supervisor Heterogeneity: An Analysis Of Uk Microdata. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 49(4), 407-417.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2001) Experience‐earnings profiles, education and gender. Journal of Economic Studies, 28(6), 408-422.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2001) International competition and the labor market prospects of union and nonunion workers. Journal of Labor Research, 22(3), 669-677.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2001) Actual and optimal labour supply. Applied Economics Letters, 8(2), 111-113.
Brown S & Sessions JG (2000) Employee militancy in Britain: 1985-1990. Applied Economics, 32(13), 1767-1774.
Brown S, Fakhfakh F & Sessions JG (1999) Absenteeism and Employee Sharing: An Empirical Analysis Based on French Panel Data, 1981–1991. ILR Review, 52(2), 234-251.
Brown S & Sessions JG (1999) Education and employment status: a test of the strong screening hypothesis in Italy. Economics of Education Review, 18(4), 397-404.
BROWN S (1999) Worker absenteeism and overtime bans. Applied Economics, 31(2), 165-174.
Brown S & Sessions JG (1998) Jurassic Union Man? A Profile of the British Trade Union Member. LABOUR, 12(4), 773-796.
Brown S & Sessions J (1998) Education, Employment Status and Earnings: A Comparative Test of the Strong Screening Hypothesis. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 45(5), 586-591.
Brown S & Sessions JG (1997) Housing, privatization and the 'Right to Buy'. Applied Economics, 29(5), 581-590.
Brown S, Frick B & Sessions J (1997) Unemployment, Vacancies and Unfair Dismissals. LABOUR, 11(2), 329-349.
Brown S & Sessions JG (1997) A Profile of UK Unemployment: Regional versus Demographic Influences. Regional Studies, 31(4), 351-366.
Brown S & Sessions JG (1996) THE ECONOMICS OF ABSENCE: THEORY AND EVIDENCE. Journal of Economic Surveys, 10(1), 23-53.
BROWN SARAH, BUTTON KENNETH & SESSIONS JOHN (1996) Implications of Liberalised European Labour Markets. Contemporary Economic Policy, 14(1), 58-69.
Brown S (1994) Dynamic implications of absence behaviour. Applied Economics, 26(12), 1163-1175.

Working papers

Alzuabi R, Brown S, Harris MN & Taylor K (2022) Modelling the composition of household portfolios: a latent class approach. The Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series (SERPS), 2022019. View this article in WRRO

Teaching activities

I am currently the module leader for Classical and Contemporary Thinkers in Economics, which introduces students a wide range of approaches to economics, from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes through to Amartya Sen and Daniel Kahneman. This module helps students to understand the historical roots of the discipline, as well as, contemporary developments in economics.

My approach to teaching entails not only introducing students to traditional as well as recent advances in economic analysis but also to develop critical evaluation skills so that students can assess alternative theories and approaches and consider possible areas of improvement, as well as their current and practical relevance.

My approach to teaching explicitly links teaching and research. Students are not just presented with a fixed set of theories or one approach to economics– they are encouraged to evaluate different approaches so that they learn about and engage with the process of research.