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Professor Patricia Apps

Profile

Degrees

MEd Yale; PhD Cantab

Areas of Interest

  • Public economics
  • Welfare state
  • Health policy
  • Law and economics
  • Taxation
  • Labour markets
  • Income distribution

Brief Biographical Detail

Patricia is Professor of Public Economics and Director of Research at Sydney Law School. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Adjunct Professor, Australian National University and University of Technology, Sydney, and Research Fellow, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Germany, and Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD), Italy. Her research covers a wide range of areas in Public Economics. She has undertaken extensive empirical and theoretical analysis of the effects of tax policy on household labour supply, saving and fertility decisions, and has been a major contributor to the new literature on the economics of household. Her work has appeared in the leading international journals in economics and specialist journals in the field. In 2006 she was the elected President of the European Society for Population Economics, and she recently represented the Sydney Law School and the University of Sydney at the Australian Government’s 2020 Summit.


Professional Appointments

Current Appointments:
1993 - date   Professor in Public Economics, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
1999 - date  Research Fellow, IZA, Bonn
2003 - date  Adjunct Professor, UTS
2004  Research Fellow, CHILD - Italy, Turin
2005  Adjunct Professor, RSSS, Australian National University
Elected Appointments: 
1994 Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia 
1998 - 2004  Member of Council, European Society for Population Economics 
2005  Program Chair, XIX Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics Paris 
2006  President, European Society for Population Economics 
Previous Academic Appointments: 
2006, S1  Visiting Professor, Université de Paris 1 - Panthéon, Sorbonne 
2004, S1  Visiting Professor, Université de Paris 1 - Panthéon, Sorbonne 
2001 FH Gruen Distinguished Fellow, Economics Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University 
1993 - 1995  Associate Dean (Postgraduate Research), Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
1989 - 1992  Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney
1986 - 1988  Visiting Fellow on Secondment, Centre for Economic Policy Research,Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

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Publications

Books | Book Chapters (since 1996) | Refereed Journal Articles (since 1996) | Conference Papers (invited/refereed since 2000) | Selected Publications prior to 1996 | Opinion Pieces | Working Papers

Books

  • Public Economics and the Household, Cambridge University Press (Forthcoming)

Book Chapters (since 1996)

  • Apps, P F, “The New Discrimination and Childcare” in E Hill, B Pocock & A Elliot (eds), Kids Count: Better Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia, Sydney University Press: Sydney (2007), Ch 4
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, “Time Use and the Costs of Children over the Life Cycle” in D Hamermesh and G Phann (eds), The Economics of Time Use, Elsevier (2005), Ch 8
  • Apps, P F, Jones, G S & Savage, E J, “Taxation”, in I McAllister, S Dowick and R Hussan (eds), Cambridge Handbook of Social Sciences in Australia, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press (2003), 138-152
  • Apps, P F, “Reforming the Australian Tax-Transfer System”, in H-G Petersen and P Gallagher (eds), Tax and Transfer Reform in Australia and Germany, Australian Centre Series 3, Australia Centre, University of Potsdam (2000), 201-218
  • Apps, P F, “Household Taxation, Intra-Household Consumption and Optimal Linear Income Taxation” (with R Rees), in S Daniel, P Arrestis and J Grahl (eds), Regulation Strategies and Economic Policies: Essays in Honour of Bernard Corry and Maurice Peston, Vol 3, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (1999)
  • Apps, P F, “Income Distribution, Redistribution and Incentives”, in Wealth, Work, Well-Being, Occasional Paper Series 1/1998, Cunningham Lecture and Symposium, Academy of the Social Sciences (1998), 79-105
  • Apps, P F, “A Tax Mix Change: Effects on Tax Rates, Labour Supply and Saving Behaviour”, in JG Head (ed), Taxation Towards 2000, Australian Tax Research Foundation (1997), Ch 5, 103-121
  • Apps, P F, “Taxation of Families: Individual Taxation Versus Income Splitting”, in JG Head and Krever (eds), Tax Units and the Tax Rate Scale, Australian Tax Research Foundation (1996), Ch3, 81-105

Refereed Journal Articles (since 1996)

  • Apps, P F, ‘Taxation and Labour Supply’ (2007) 22(3) [[iAustralian Tax Forum]] 89-116
  • Apps, P F, Rees, R & Wood, M, ‘Population Ageing, Taxation, Pensions and Health Costs’ (2007) 10(2) Australian Journal of Labour Economics 79-97
  • Rees, R & Apps, P F, ‘Genetic Testing, Income Distribution and Insurance Markets’ (2007) 83-84 Les Annales d'Economie et de Statistique / The Annals of Economics and Statistics 353-368
  • Apps, P F, ‘Family Taxation: An Unfair and Inefficient System’ (2006) 7(1) Australian Review of Public Affairs 77-101.
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Gender, Time Use, and Public Policy Over the Life Cycle’ (2005) 21(3) Oxford Review of Economic Policy 439-461
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Fertility, Female Labour Supply and Public Policy’ (2004) 106 Scandinavian Journal of Economics 745-763
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Taxation and Saving over the Life Cycle’ (2004) 50 Ifo Economic Studies 479-502
  • Apps, P F, ‘The High Taxation of Working Families’ (2004) 5 Australian Review of Public Affairs 1-24
  • Apps, P F, ‘Why an Earned Income Tax Credit Program is a Mistake for Australia’ (2002) 5 (4) Australian Journal of Labour Economics 549-568
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Fertility, Dependency and Social Security’ (2002) 5(4) Australian Journal of Labour Economics 569-585
  • Apps, P F, ‘Why an EITC Program Should be Rejected’ , Comment on “The Five Economists’ Plan: The Original Idea and Further Developments” (2002) 5(2) Australian Journal of Labour Economics 231-237
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Household Production, Full Consumption and the Costs of Children’ (2001) 8 (6) Labour Economics 621-648
  • Apps, P F, ‘Why the Five Economists’ Plan for a ‘Wage-tax Trade-off’ is a Mistake for Australia’ (2001) 16 Australian Tax Forum 422-438
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘On the Taxation of Trade Within and Between Households’ (1999) 73 Journal of Public Economics 241-263
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Individual vs. Joint Taxation in Models with Household Production’ (1999) 107 Journal of Political Economy 393-403
  • Apps, P F, ‘Tax-Reform, Ideology and Gender’ (1999) 21 Sydney Law Review 437-452
  • Apps, P F, ‘Tax-Benefit Reform’ (1998) 14 Australian Tax Forum 455-486
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Collective Labor Supply and Household Production’ (1997) 105 Journal of Political Economy 178-190
  • Apps, P F ‘Effects of a Tax-Mix Change’ (1997) 13 Australian Tax Forum 401-427
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Labour Supply, Household Production and Intra-Family Welfare Distribution’ (1996) 60, Journal of Public Economics 199-219. Reprinted in: Economic Theory and the Welfare State, N Barr (ed), Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2001.

Conference Papers (invited/refereed since 2000)

  • Apps, P F, ‘Household Taxation, Childcare and female Labour Supply Heterogeneity’, invited paper, Workshop on the labour market behaviour of couples: how do they work? GREDEG, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, 13-14 June 2008
  • Apps, P F ‘Taxation of Couples’, XXII Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics, University College, London, 19-21 June 2008
  • Apps, P F, ‘Taxation, Labour Supply and Saving’, Conference in Honour of Richard Musgrave, organized by Monash University, Sydney, 2-4 June 2008
  • Apps, P F & Ray, R, ‘Lifecycle Labour Supply, Heterogeinty and Public Supply’, presented at the XXI Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics, University of Illinois, Chicago, 14-16 June, 2007
  • Apps, P F, ‘Labour Supply and Tax Policy: Some OECD Comparisons’, presented at the New Zealand Association of Economists Conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 27-29 June 2007
    Apps, P F, ‘Female Labour Supply, Taxation and the New Discrimination’, presented at the XX Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics, Verona, 22-24 June 2006
  • Apps, P F, ‘Taxation, Household Time Use and Heterogeneity’, Nineteenth Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics, Paris, 16-18 June 2005
  • Apps, P F, ‘The High Taxation of Working Families’, CFMEU and ACOSS Conference: For Fairness and Services: Restoring the Integrity of the Taxation System, Sydney, 23 June 2004
  • Apps, P F, ‘The Household, Time Use and Tax Policy’ (with R Rees), Eighteenth Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics, Bergen, 10-12 June 2004
  • Apps, P F, Rees, R and Savage, E J, ‘The Economics of a Two Tier Health System: A Fairer Medicare?’ 2003 Conference of the Australian Health Economics Society, Canberra, 2-3 Oct 2003
  • Apps, P F, ‘Life Cycle Health Costs and Living Standards’ (with R Rees), 2003 Conference of Economists, Canberra, 29 Sept - 1 Oct 2003
  • Apps, P F, ‘The Taxation of Couples’ (with R Rees), CESifo 2003 Venice Summer Institute Conference: Taxation and the Family, Venice, 24-26 July 2003
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Effects of Family Tax Reform on Life Cycle Saving’, CESifo 2003 Venice Summer Institute: Taxation and the Family, Venice, 24-26 July 2003
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Time Allocation and Saving in an Imperfect Capital Market’, NBER Summer Institute: Aggregate Implications of Microeconomic Consumption Behavior, Boston, 21-25 July 2003
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Household Consumption, Domestic Production and Saving over the Life Cycle’, Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the European Society for Population Economics, New York. 2003
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Time Use and Child Costs over the Life Cycle’, International Time Use Network Conference, St Gerlach, The Netherlands, 19-20 May 2003
  • Apps, P F, ‘Gender, Time Use and Labor Allocation’, Keynote paper at the World Bank Workshop: Gender and Development, World Bank, Washington, 7 May 2002
  • Apps, P F, ‘Why An Earned Income Tax Credit Program is a Mistake for Australia’, FH Gruen Public Lecture, ANU, 2 May 2002
  • Apps, P F, ‘Fertility, Saving and Pension Reform: Fallacies Underpinning Current Policy Directions’, Ninth Annual Colloquium of Superannuation Research, UNSW, 9- 10 July 2000
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Selected Publications prior to 1996

  • Apps, P F, ‘Female Labour Supply, Housework and Family Welfare’, in R Blundell, I Preston and I Walker (eds), Measurement of Household Welfare, Cambridge University Press (1994), Ch 6, 140-163
  • Apps, P F, ‘Tax Reform, Population Ageing and the Changing Labour Supply Behaviour of Married Women’ (1991) Journal of Population Economics 201-216
    Reprinted in D Bos and C Cnossen (eds), Fiscal Implications of an Aging Population, Springer-Verlag (1992) 137-152
  • Apps, P F and Savage E J, ‘Labour Supply, Welfare Rankings and the Measurement of Inequality’ (1989) 39 Journal of Public Economics 335-364
  • Apps, P F & Rees, R, ‘Taxation and the Household’ (1988) 35 Journal of Public Economics 155-169
  • Apps, P F & Jones G S, ‘Selective Taxation of Couples’ (1986) Supp 5 Journal of Economics 63-74.
  • Apps, P F, ‘The Relative Deprivation Curve and Its Applications’, 1985 (3) Journal of Business and Economic Statistics
  • Apps, P F, ‘Institutional Inequality and Tax Incidence’, 1982 (18) Journal of Public Economics 217-242
  • Apps, P F, A Theory of Inequality and Taxation, Cambridge University Press, UK (1981)

Opinion Pieces

Working Papers