Dr Angus Holford Research Fellow, University of Essex

Email

ajholf@essex.ac.uk

Telephone

01206 872605

Office

2N2.4.25

I’m an economist based in the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. I collected and am now analysing a unique longitudinal survey of undergraduates for a ground-breaking study of student life and outcomes from Higher Education. I have recently published on undergraduate students’ decisions to gain extra-curricular experience, unpaid work and access to science professions, the returns to part-time employment among teenagers.

Research Agenda: My research agenda is focused on the mechanisms in determining gender, socio-economic and ethnic differences in educational attainment and early labour market outcomes. At present, this means one strand of work focusing on the impacts of Universal Free School Meal programmes, and another on access and returns to Higher Education.

I’m also a Research Affiliate with the IZA (Institute for the Study of Labor) and was a Research Fellow at the Behavioural Insights Team (‘Nudge Unit’) at the Cabinet Office, Oct 2012-Jan 2013, where I produced verbal and written policy advice and research reports, and was involved in randomised control trials for evidence-based policy.

Research Interests: Evidence-based policy; randomised control trials; peer effects; microeconometrics; family economics; education inequalities.

Teaching: I deliver the course Introduction to Impact Evaluation annually through the National Centre for Research Methods

I am the course convenor and lead lecturer on the MSc module “EC969: Applications of Data Analysis” run jointly with the Department of Economics. This is a compulsory module for the MSc Applied Economics and Data Analysis and optional for MSc Economics.

Supervision: I am co-supervisor for two PhD students, Sonkurt Sen and Tomasso Sartori, and co-supervised Joshua Fullard to completion. I’m available to discuss proposals for potential PhD supervision.

Latest Blog Posts

Publications

Displaying publications 1 - 15 of 27 in total

1. Access and returns to unpaid graduate work experience

   Angus Holford

   Journal Article, Labour: Review of Labour Economics and Industrial Relations - 24 May 2021
   1. Human Capital
   2. Labour Market
   3. Wages And Earnings
   4. Social Stratification
   5. Higher Education

2. Graduates’ labour market and training expectations during COVID-19

   Emilia Del Bono, Adeline Delavande, and Angus Holford

   Report, MiSoC Explainers - Mar 2021
   1. Training: Labour Market
   2. Education
   3. Labour Market
   4. Economics
   5. Health
   6. Surveys
   7. Higher Education
   8. Covid 19

3. Impact of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy

   Angus Holford and Birgitta Rabe

   Report - Nov 2020
   1. Education
   2. Child Development
   3. Households
   4. Poverty
   5. Public Policy
   6. Welfare Benefits
   7. Health

4. Impact of the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy

   Angus Holford and Birgitta Rabe

   Report, Policy Briefing Notes - Nov 2020
   1. Education
   2. Child Development
   3. Households
   4. Poverty
   5. Public Policy
   6. Welfare Benefits
   7. Health

5. Academic and non-academic investments at university: the role of expectations, preferences and constraints

   Adeline Delavande, Emilia Del Bono, and Angus Holford

   Journal Article, Journal of Econometrics - 03 Nov 2020
   1. Time Use
   2. Economics
   3. Ethnic Groups
   4. Social Stratification
   5. Higher Education

6. Youth employment, academic performance and labour market outcomes: production functions and policy effects

   Angus Holford

   Journal Article, Labour Economics - Apr 2020
   1. Human Capital
   2. Young People
   3. Education
   4. Child Development
   5. Labour Market

7. Going universal - the impact of free school lunches on child body weight outcomes

   Angus Holford and Birgitta Rabe

   Research Paper, - Mar 2020
   1. Education
   2. Child Development
   3. Public Policy
   4. Health

8. Unpaid work and access to science professions

   Auriel M.V. Fournier, Angus Holford, Alexander L. Bond, et al.

   Journal Article, PLoS ONE - 19 Jun 2019
   1. Science And Technology
   2. Labour Market
   3. Wages And Earnings
   4. Higher Education

9. How did universal infant free school meals affect children's bodyweight?

   Angus Holford and Birgitta Rabe

   Report, MiSoC Explainers - 2019
   1. Education
   2. Child Development
   3. Public Policy
   4. Health

10. Student preferences over fees, grants and loans

    Adeline Delavande, Emilia Del Bono, and Angus Holford

    Report, MiSoC Explainers - Sep 2018
    1. Economics
    2. Public Policy
    3. Debt: Indebtedness
    4. Finance
    5. Higher Education

11. What explains ethnic and SES gaps in degree class and dropout?

    Emilia Del Bono and Angus Holford

    Report, MiSoC Explainers - Sep 2018
    1. Ethnic Groups
    2. Social Stratification
    3. Higher Education

12. Fewer school children have part-time jobs

    Angus Holford

    Interview - 04 Dec 2017

13. It's not how much you work but how. The production function for performance among university students

    Angus Holford

    Conference Paper, Understanding Society Scientific Conference 2017, 11-13 July 2017, University of Essex, Colchester, UK - 13 Jul 2017
    1. Psychology
    2. Time Use
    3. Economics
    4. Higher Education

14. Access to and returns from unpaid graduate internships

    Angus Holford

    Research Paper, IZA Discussion Papers, 10845 - Jun 2017
    1. Human Capital
    2. Labour Market
    3. Social Stratification
    4. Higher Education

15. Access to and returns from unpaid graduate internships

    Angus Holford

    ISER Working Paper Series, 2017-07 - 08 Jun 2017 - download  
    1. Human Capital
    2. Labour Market
    3. Wages And Earnings
    4. Social Stratification
    5. Higher Education

Media

Displaying media publications 1 - 15 of 34 in total

1. Free school dinners ‘led to fall in childhood obesity rates’

   Media - 08 Mar 2020

2. A bad deal for early-career researchers

   Media - Nov 2019

3. Experience versus salary

   Media - 11 Oct 2019

4. The case for universal infant free school meals

   Media - 16 Sep 2019

5. What I wish I’d known before my unpaid internship

   Media - 30 Jan 2018

6. Internships cost job seekers £1,000 a month in London and £827 in Manchester

   Media - 30 Jan 2018

7. Death of part-time job for teenagers: number of youngsters who take on Saturday work falls by a fifth

   Media - 05 Dec 2017

8. Teenagers ditch Saturday jobs amid rising exam stress

   Media - 04 Dec 2017

9. Are Saturday jobs less popular among UK children now?

   Media - 04 Dec 2017

10. Students with BTECs do worse at university – here's how we close the gap

    Media - 29 Nov 2017

11. Así puede perjudicar tu carrera ser becario gratis

    Media - 18 Sep 2017

12. Prácticas no remuneradas afecta futuro profesional de los jóvenes

    Media - 12 Aug 2017

13. Interns lose out later

    Media - 31 Jul 2017

14. Graduate interns earn less after three years than those who shun unpaid work, study finds

    Media - 30 Jul 2017

15. Graduates who take unpaid internships end up £3,500 worse off compared to those who go straight into work

    Media - 30 Jul 2017