About
Professor Birgitta Rabe is a Professor of Economics at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER), University of Essex. She serves as Co-Investigator of the ESRC Research Centre on Micro-social Change and Topic Champion for Understanding Society. Her research focuses on applied economics in education, family dynamics, and labour markets, with a particular emphasis on the impacts of public policies on child development, health, and inequality.
- Education: Extensive work on school resources, free school meal policies, and pandemic-related educational disruptions.
- Labour Economics: Studies parental labour supply responses to childcare availability and school quality.
- Public Policy: Evaluates universal policies like free school meals and their effects on obesity, academic performance, and equity.
Her research highlights the interplay between policy interventions and outcomes such as child obesity, educational disparities, and maternal employment. Recent work addresses post-pandemic challenges, including school closures' mental health impacts and long-term educational inequities.
Key publications examine the causal effects of free school meals on child health and academic outcomes, teacher bias in grading ethnic minority students, and parental decision-making in response to school quality information.
Professor Rabe’s contributions bridge academic research and policy, informing evidence-based strategies for social and economic change.
