Joanne Roberts
President of Yale-NUS College
Joanne Roberts is the third President and Professor of Social Sciences (Economics) at Yale-NUS College. Her presidential term began on 1 July 2022. Prior to becoming president, she served as the College’s Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) from 2018 to 2022. As Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs), she oversaw all academic and student programming. She is deeply committed to broad inclusive models of education in supporting students’ academic and personal development.
She will take on the role of Vice President (Humanities and Social Sciences Research)-Designate at the NUS Office of the Deputy President (Research and Technology) from 1 January to 30 June 2025, during which time she will continue to serve as President of Yale-NUS College.
Prof Roberts did her undergraduate training in economics at the University of Waterloo and her graduate work at Queen’s University in Canada. In 1998, she joined the faculty at the University of Toronto, and in 2008, the University of Calgary, before joining Yale-NUS in as Associate Dean (Faculty Development) in January 2017. Prof Roberts is a public economist, interested in how incentives affect behaviour in broad number of situations. She has published papers in journals such as American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, The Journal of Public Economics and International Economic Review.
Prof Roberts is currently the Chair of the Asia Research Institute’s management board. She has served as a member of the executive of the Canadian Economic Association, President of the Canadian Economics Women’s Network, and co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics. A Polanyi research prize winner, Prof Roberts previously held the Canada Research Chair in the Economics of Organizations at the University of Calgary. She serves on the advisory panel of NINEby9, advancing gender parity in Asia, management board of the Asia Research Institute, NUS and the jury of the Steward Leadership 25 awards. She also served on the board of the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association.
President Roberts is a public economist who is interested in how incentives affect behaviour in broad number of situations. Her recent work has focused on legal institutions, tax evasion, and charitable giving.
Selected articles include:
- “Private Protection and Public Policing” with Ross Hickey, Steeve Mongrain and Tanguy van Ypersele, (2021) Journal of Public Economic Theory, 23:5–28.
- “Evasion of Fiscal and Labour Regulations: Firm Behaviour and Optimal Tax Policy” with Kate Cuff and Steeve Mongrain, (2020) Journal of Public Economic Theory, 22: 69-97.
- “Rehabilitated or Not: an Informational Theory of Parole Decisions” with Dan Bernhardt and Steeve Mongrain, (2012) Journal of Law, Economics, and Organisation, 28:186-210.
Runner-up for the Oliver E. Williamson prize for best article - “Optimal Policies and the Informal Sector” with Katherine Cuff, Nicolas Marceau and Steeve Mongrain, (2011) Journal of Public Economics, 95 (11-12): 1280-1291
- “Government Oversight of Public Universities: Are Centralized Performance Schemes Related to Increased Quantity or Quality?” with A. Abigail Payne, (2010) Review of Economics and Statistics, 92(1): 207-212.
- “Plea Bargaining with Budgetary Constraints” with Steeve Mongrain, (2009) International Review of Law and Economics, (29): 8-12.
- “Unemployment Insurance and Experience Rating: Insurance versus Efficiency” with Steeve Mongrain, (2005) International Economic Review 46(4): 1303-1319.
- “Banks and Enterprise Privatization in China” with Loren Brandt and Hongbin Li, (2005) Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 21(2): 524-546.
- “Contracting Productivity Growth” with Patrick Francois, (2003) Review of Economic Studies, 70: 59-85.
- “Relationships, Commitment, and Labour Productivity Growth” with Patrick Francois, (2003) Journal of the European Economic Association, 1: 612-20.
- “Implementing the Efficient Allocation of Pollution” with John Duggan, (2002) American Economic Review, 92(4): 1070-1078.
Reprinted in Public Sector Economics: Critical Perspectives, edited by Richard Tresch, Routledge,
2009. - “Twin Engines of Growth: Skills and Technology as Equal Partners in Balanced Growth” with Huw Lloyd Ellis, (2002) The Journal of Economic Growth, 7(2): 87-115.
- “Needs-Based Health Care Funding: Implications for Resource Distribution in Ontario” with Kelly Bedard, John Dorland, and Allan Gregory, (2000) Canadian Journal of Economics, 33(4): 981-1008.
- “Riding Free on the Signals of Others” with Kim Alexander-Cook and Dan Bernhardt, (1998) Journal of Public Economics, 67(1): 25-43.
