Alison Booth
{{short description|Australian economist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox economist
| name = Alison Booth
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| birth_name = Alison Lee Booth
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| birth_place = Melbourne, Australia
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| nationality = Australian
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| institution = Australian National University
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| alma_mater = London School of Economics
| doctoral_advisor = Tony Atkinson
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| repec_id = pbo47
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Alison L. Booth is an Australian labour economist and novelist who is professor of economics at the Australian National University. She is the author of six novels. These are Stillwater Creek (2010), The Indigo Sky (2011), A Distant Land (2012), A Perfect Marriage (2018), The Philosopher's Daughters (2020) and The Painting (2021).{{cite news|last=Harper|first=Charlotte|title=Broader Horizons|work=The Canberra Times|date= 2 June 2012}}
Early life and education
Booth was born in Melbourne and grew up in Sydney. Her father, Norman Booth, wrote an Australian war novel called Up The Dusty Track.{{cite web|url=http://www.nicolealexander.com.au/2011/05/09/alison-booth-stepping-between-worlds/|title=Alison Booth – Stepping Between Worlds|first=Nicole|last=Alexander|publisher=Nicole Alexander}}
Booth has both a Masters of Economics and a PhD from the London School of Economics. Her dissertation under Tony Atkinson was on the microeconomic behaviour of trade unions and membership.{{cite journal|url=http://business.curtin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/04/AJLE-v17n1-Hunter.pdf|title=Conversations with Eminent Labour Economists: Alison Booth|first=Boyd|last=Hunter|journal=Australian Journal of Labour Economics|volume=17|pages=5–14|year=2014}}
Career
Booth's research interests cover labour economics, behavioural economics, and the economics of gender.{{Cite web|title=Alison Booth|url=https://esacentral.org.au/news/21486/alison-booth/|access-date=2021-07-27|website=esacentral.org.au}} She lectured at the University of Bristol in the 1980s and was Professor of Economics the University of Essex from 1995 to 2013. She was editor-in-chief of Labour Economics from 1999 to 2004 and President of the European Association of Labour Economists from 2006 to 2008.{{cite web|url=http://genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/news/emeritus-prof-alison-booth-made-founding-fellow-eale|title=Emeritus Prof Alison Booth made founding fellow of the EALE|publisher=Australian National University}} In 2017, Booth received the Distinguished Fellow Award of the Economic Society of Australia,{{Cite web|url=https://esacentral.org.au/latest-news-item/25196/awards-2017/?type_fr=4|title = Awards 2017}} and in 2019 she was elected as fellow of the Econometric Society. She has also spent time on the Council of the European Society of Population Economists.{{Cite web|title=Alison L. Booth {{!}} IZA - Institute of Labor Economics|url=https://www.iza.org/person/65/alison-l-booth|access-date=2021-12-08|website=www.iza.org}} She has worked in the areas of gender and discrimination in the labour force.{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/20133261078247599.html|title=Misogyny and powerful women|publisher=Al Jazeera|first=Alison|last=Booth|date=26 March 2013|accessdate=3 December 2016}} Her research found that girls at single-sex schools are less risk averse than those at co-ed schools, perhaps due to the absence of "culturally driven norms and beliefs about the appropriate mode of female behaviour"{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21594982-why-some-people-are-more-cautious-their-finances-others-risk|title=Why some people are more cautious with their finances than others|newspaper=The Economist|date=25 January 2014|accessdate=3 December 2016}}{{cite web|url=http://www.policyforum.net/turn-back-the-clock/|title= Turn back the clock: Could same-sex classes be the step backwards that help us take two steps forward?|first=Alison|last=Booth|work=APPS Policy Forum|date=30 December 2014|accessdate=3 December 2016}} and that women take more career risks when they are supported by other women.{{cite web|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/australian-national-university-researcher-alison-booth-states-women-take-more-career-risks-when-among-women/story-e6frf00i-1226209040761|title=Australian National University researcher Alison Booth states women take more career risks when among women|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=29 November 2011|accessdate=3 December 2016}} Her research has also investigated how competitive behaviour in China was affected by the Cultural Revolution{{Cite journal|title=Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete: The Role of Culture and Institutions|year=2019|doi=10.1111/ecoj.12583|url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10364|last1=Booth|first1=Alison|last2=Fan|first2=Elliott|last3=Meng|first3=Xin|last4=Zhang|first4=Dandan|journal=The Economic Journal|volume=129|issue=618|pages=734–764|hdl=10419/149223|s2cid=32799124|hdl-access=free}} and she has used field data to study the impact of culture on male and female competitive behaviour in Japan{{Cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=Alison|last2=Yamamura|first2=Eiji|date=October 2018|title=Performance in Mixed-Sex and Single-Sex Competitions: What We Can Learn from Speedboat Races in Japan|url=https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article/100/4/581-593/58495|journal=The Review of Economics and Statistics|language=en|volume=100|issue=4|pages=581–593|doi=10.1162/rest_a_00715|s2cid=57567433|issn=0034-6535|hdl=1885/161049|hdl-access=free}} and in South Korea.{{Cite journal|date=2021-07-01|title=Girls' and boys' performance in competitions: What we can learn from a Korean quiz show|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268121001785|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization|language=en|volume=187|pages=431–447|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2021.04.031|issn=0167-2681|last1=Booth|first1=Alison|last2=Lee|first2=Jungmin|hdl=10419/196680|s2cid=151007431|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}} Booth has also called for blind recruiting due to her research into discrimination in callback rates for applicants with non-Anglo-Saxon sounding names.{{cite web|url=http://www.policyforum.net/job-hunt-success-is-all-in-a-name/|title= Job hunt success is all in a name: A call for standardised anonymous application forms|first=Alison|last=Booth|publisher=APPS Policy Forum|date=4 March 2013|accessdate=3 December 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/race-watchdog-hails-blind-recruiting-trial-to-overcome-bias|title=Race watchdog hails blind recruiting trial to overcome bias|last=Wahlquist|first=Calla|date=23 May 2016|work=The Guardian}}
=Fiction=
Booth has also published short stories and six novels.
The first book in Booth's trilogy, Stillwater Creek (2010), "captures a particular time in Australian history – memories of the war are still relatively fresh, communism is the new fear, and social mores are still very conservative".{{cite news|last=Clarke|first=Lucy|title=Up the Creek in Australia of Old|work=The Sunday Telegraph|date=3 January 2010}} In an interview, Booth said about the town of Jingera, "I like to think of [it] as... a stage on which a few actors play out the universal stories.{{cite web|last=Fraser|first=Alison|url=http://www.readersdigest.com.au/meet_authors_july_2011|title=Meet Alison Booth, professor of economics – and novelist|work=The Reader's Digest|date=July 2011|access-date=2015-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032241/http://www.readersdigest.com.au/meet_authors_july_2011|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}} Translated into French (Les Rivages du Souvenir) by Helene Collon for publication by Presses de la Cite in 2011, the novel was Highly Commended in the 2011 ACT Book of the Year Award, and was published as a Select Edition in 2011 by Reader's Digest in Australasia and in the UK.
Booth's second novel, The Indigo Sky (2011), is set in late 1961. Booth "uses Jingera as a microcosm for the social and political issues faced by post-war Australia. [She]... weaves the gritty issues of paedophilia, racism and postwar trauma into her first book, and the removal of Aboriginal children and bullying into her second book, but manages to maintain a light and hopeful tone".{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Blanche|title=Under the Milky Way|work=Herald Sun|date=22 January 2011}} The final book in the trilogy, A Distant Land (2012), is set in Jingera, Sydney and Cambodia in 1971. It focuses on "Human rights, civil liberties and war".
Booth's fourth novel, A Perfect Marriage (2018), is a "cleverly structured"{{cite web|last=Goldsworthy|first=Kerryn |date=12 April 2018|title=A Perfect Marriage review: Alison Booth's story of domestic abuse|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|url= https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/a-perfect-marriage-review-alison-booths-story-of-domestic-abuse-20180412-h0ynqu.html}} story of middle-class "domestic violence"{{cite web|last=Booth|first=Alison |date=23 May 2018|title=I couldn't stop the weekly outbursts of violence next door. Today I'd speak up|website=TheGuardian.com |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/alison-booth}} and its long term effects.
The fifth novel, The Philosopher's Daughters, was published in the UK on 2 April 2020. The novel explores race and gender in 19th-century Australia, and has been described as "wonderfully evocative".{{Cite web|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6869187/gentle-outback-drama-with-heart/|title = Gentle outback drama with heart|date = 15 August 2020}}
Booth's sixth novel, The Painting, was published in the UK in July 2021. It "deftly explores the migration experience", and its author is described as "an elegant writer who excels at inhabiting the intellectual headspace of her characters".{{Cite web|url=https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7350233/an-affecting-art-theft-mystery/|title=An affecting art-theft mystery|date=24 July 2021}}
Personal life
Select bibliography
=Books=
- {{cite book|title=The Economics of the Trade Union|first=Alison L.|last=Booth|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1995|url=https://archive.org/details/economicsoftrade0000boot|url-access=registration|isbn=9780521468398}}
- {{cite book|last1=Booth|first1=Alison L. |last2=Snower|first2=Dennis J.|year=1996|title=Acquiring Skills: Market Failures, Their Symptoms, and Policy Responses|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW6jtiXRtdcC|isbn=9780521479578 }}
=Articles=
- {{cite journal|first=Alison L.|last=Booth|title=The Free Rider Problem and a Social Custom Model of Trade Union Membership|year=1985|journal=Quarterly Journal of Economics|volume=100|issue=1|pages=253–261|jstor=1885744|doi=10.2307/1885744}}
- {{cite journal|year=1998|first2=Alison L.|last2=Booth|authorlink1=Wiji Arulampalam|first1=Wiji|last1=Arulampalam|title=Training and Labour Market Flexibility: Is There a Trade-off?|journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations|volume=36 |issue=4|pages=521–536|doi=10.1111/1467-8543.00106}}
- {{cite journal|first1=Alison L.|last1=Booth|first2=Marco|last2=Francesconi|last3=Frank|first3=Jeff|year=2002|title=Temporary Jobs: Stepping Stones or Dead Ends|journal=The Economic Journal|volume =112|issue=480|pages=F189–F213|doi=10.1111/1468-0297.00043|hdl=10419/21049|s2cid=56458493|url=http://www.laboratoriorevelli.it/_pdf/wp8.pdf|hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=Alison L.|last2=Francesconi|first2=Marco|last3=Frank|first3=Jeff|year=2003|title=A Sticky Floors Model of Promotion, Pay, and Gender|journal=European Economic Review|volume=47 |issue=2|pages=295–322|doi=10.1016/s0014-2921(01)00197-0}}
- {{cite journal|first1=Alison L.|last1=Booth|first2=Mark L.|last2=Bryan|year=2004|title=The Union Membership Wage-Premium Puzzle: Is There a Free Rider Problem?|journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review|volume=57|issue=3|pages=402–421|doi=10.1177/001979390405700305|hdl=1885/86265|s2cid=3242792|url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/86265|hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite journal|title=Is There a Glass Ceiling Over Europe? Exploring the Gender Pay Gap across the Wage Distribution|first1=Wiji|last1=Arulampalam|first2=Alison L.|last2=Booth|first3=Mark L.|last3=Bryan|journal=ILR Review|volume=60 |issue=2|pages=163–186|year=2007|doi=10.1177/001979390706000201|s2cid=8475268|url=http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/36/1/WRAP_Arulampalam_dp1373.pdf}}
- {{cite journal|year=2008|title=Job Satisfaction and Family Happiness: The Part-Time Work Puzzle|first1=Alison L.|last1=Booth|first2=Jan C.|last2=Van Ours|journal=The Economic Journal|volume=118|issue=526|pages=F77–F99|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02117.x|hdl=10419/91984|s2cid=17505859|url=http://fbe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/802822/1000.pdf |hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite journal|title=Education, Matching, and the Allocative Value of Romance|journal=Journal of the European Economic Association|first1=Alison|last1=Booth|first2=Melvyn|last2=Coles|year=2010|volume=8 |issue=4|pages=755–775|doi=10.1111/j.1542-4774.2010.tb00539.x|hdl=20.500.11780/1149|s2cid=198591220|url=http://www.barcelonagse.eu/sites/default/files/working_paper_pdfs/205.pdf |hdl-access=free}}
- {{cite journal|year=2011|title=Does Ethnic Discrimination Vary Across Minority Groups? Evidence from a Field Experiment|first1=Alison L.|last1=Booth|first2=Andrew|last2=Leigh|first3=Elenea|last3=Varganova|journal=Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics|volume=74 |issue=4|pages=547–573|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0084.2011.00664.x|citeseerx=10.1.1.688.2696|s2cid=14100864}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=Alison L.|last2= Nolen|first2=Patrick|year=2012|title=Choosing to Compete: How Different are Girls and Boys?|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization|volume=81|issue=2|pages=542–555|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2011.07.018|citeseerx=10.1.1.187.1081|s2cid=5284701}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=Alison L.|last2=Nolen|first2=Patrick|year=2012|title=Gender Differences in Risk Behaviour: Does Nurture Matter?|journal=Economic Journal|volume=122 |issue=668|pages=F56–F78|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0297.2011.02480.x|citeseerx=10.1.1.388.57|s2cid=73518665}}
- {{cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=Alison L.|last2=Cardona-Sosa|first2=L.|last3=Nolen|first3=Patrick|year=2014|title=Gender Differences in Risk Aversion: Do Single-sex Environments Affect Their Development?|journal=Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization |volume=99|pages=126–154|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2013.12.017|hdl=10784/7519 |s2cid=52885972|url=http://repository.essex.ac.uk/12291/1/SSRN-id1965150.pdf}}
- Booth, Alison; Fan, Elliott; Zhang, Dandan; Xin, Meng (2019). "Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete: The Role of Culture and Institutions". The Economic Journal, 129: 734–764, https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12583
=Novels=
- {{cite book|title=Stillwater Creek|first=Alison|last=Booth|isbn=9781864711257|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=crvkggYRVYQC|publisher=Read How You Want}}
- {{cite book|title=The Indigo Sky|first=Alison|last=Booth|isbn=9781742742908|year=2011|publisher=Read How You Want|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVzjqGIv23UC}}
- {{cite book|title=A Distant Land|first=Alison|last=Booth|isbn=9781864711943|year=2012|publisher=Random House Australia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbGyKv0n6aYC}}
- {{cite book|title=A Perfect Marriage|first=Alison|last=Booth|isbn=9781910453490|year=2018|publisher=RedDoorPublishing|
url=https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/a-perfect-marriage-alison-booth/p/9781910453490?gclid=CjwKCAjwg_fZBRAoEiwAppvp-ZNCRypssEJOrLK_J8B1V-mNeiSlfWthEcaok5AmEvG7auu1D9R-ERoCywUQAvD_BwE}}
- Booth, Alison (2020). The Philosopher's Daughters.{{Cite book|last=Booth|first=Alison|title=The Philosopher's Daughters|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/the/alison-booth/9781913062149}} RedDoor Press. {{ISBN|9781913062149}}
- Booth, Alison (2021). The Painting.{{Cite book|last=Booth|first=Alison|title=The Painting|url=https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-painting/alison-booth/9781913062651#reviews}} RedDoor Press. {{ISBN|978-1-913062-65-1}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.rse.anu.edu.au/about-us/our-people/people/?profile=Alison-Booth ANU Profile]
- [http://www.alisonbooth.net Website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Alison}}
Category:Australian women novelists
Category:21st-century Australian novelists
Category:21st-century Australian women writers
Category:Australian women economists
Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University
Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Australian expatriates in England
Category:Writers from Melbourne
Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia