Hi, I'm Anna Lovász, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Washington Tacoma and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic and Regional studies in Budapest.
I was born in Hungary, and currently live and work in Washington state in the United States.
My research mainly focuses on gender inequalities in education and the labor market, and the policies that can decrease them. I focus on two key areas: parenthood-related disadvantages and the role of psychological factors such as confidence and competitiveness. I'm interested in providing robust data-driven evidence of the benefits of investing in governmental and institutional policies that enable all individuals to better fulfill their potential in their schooling and working lives. Such evidence is key for evaluating which policies can improve existing inequalities and benefit our society as a whole.
One line of projects analyzes the impacts of family policies - such as parental leave and universal childcare - on gaps in educational and labor market success based on large administrative datasets. These studies highlight the importance of these policies in determining student success (test scores), inequalities (occupational choices, employment, promotions, earnings), and the "motherhood penalty" in various countries. In a second set of projects we study the impact of various elements of supervisory feedback - such as encouragement and public leaderboards - on the motivation, effort, and performance of individuals using randomized online experiments. These point to the importance of individualized attention and feedback in both teaching practices and managerial communication.
I am lucky in that my scholarly interests align with my other work: teaching and supporting students. I teach courses on basic data literacy, introductory economics, research methods, labor economics, behavioral economics. and labor market inequalities. I enjoy getting to know students and applying the findings of my research to help them succeed in our classes and beyond. Our classroom interactions always inspire new research ideas along the way.
Selected Projects
Competition and Subjective Feedback - ROSES seminar