Professor A. Abigail Payne

Director and Ronald Henderson Professor, Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research

Professor A. Abigail Payne is the Director & Ronald Henderson Professor at the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research. Professor Payne is a data-driven economist specializing in educational policy, donor behaviour, poverty reduction, and law and economics. Her extensive work is published in leading economic and public policy journals. In 2022, she was a Visiting Fellow at Hoover Institution (Stanford University, USA).

Prior to her role at Melbourne Institute, she held positions at McMaster University (and held a position of Canada Research Chair in Public Economics), University of Illinois, and University of Toronto. She earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University, a J.D. from Cornell University, and a B.A. from Denison University. Professor Payne actively contributes to data initiatives and serves on various committees, including the Australian Statistics Advisory Council, chair of the German Based ifo Institute Scientific Advisory Council, and several editorial boards. She leads significant projects such as the Paul Ramsay Foundation's Breaking Down Barriers project and plays a crucial role as an investigator for the ARC-COE Life Course Centre.