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Ellen Greaves

Ellen Greaves

Research Associate

CV
ORCID
0000-0002-2124-2645
Education

MSc Economics (Distinction), University College London, 2012

BSc Economics and Mathematics (1st Class), University of Bristol, 2007

Ellen joined the IFS in 2009 as a Research Economist in the Education, Employment and Evaluation sector, and she became a Senior Research Economist in 2014.  Ellen's research focuses on pupil well-being and attainment, including the impact of a pupil's month of birth and parents' marital status on these outcomes. She has also contributed to a number of large-scale policy evaluations, including the impact of the provision of universal free school meals and an early intervention literacy programme, and is currently leading the evaluation of the Achieve Together pilot. Related to schools and teachers, Ellen has investigated whether parents' preferences for primary schools mean that school choice and competition can help improve academic standards in schools, and is currently leading research into the costs and benefits of different initial teacher training routes.

Academic outputs

IFS Working Paper W17/11
Intergenerational income persistence within families
There is substantial evidence of a significant relationship between parents’ income and sons’ earnings in the UK, and that this relationship has strengthened over time. We extend this by exploring a broader measure of net family income as an outcome.
Journal article | Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A
The drivers of month of birth differences in children's cognitive and non-cognitive skills
This paper finds differences in the age at which cognitive skills are tested accounts for the vast majority of the difference in outcomes between children who are born at different times of the year.

Reports and comment

Observation
Even high-achieving pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds miss out on some university opportunities – but mentoring programmes can help
Recent IFS work shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds see some of the largest financial benefits from going on to university. But these students are also less likely to attend university than their better-off peers who get exactly the same grades as them. And, even among students with ...
Report
An evaluation of the impact of the Social Mobility Foundation programmes on education and employment outcomes
While there is broad agreement in the UK on the importance of social mobility, current evidence suggests that social background is more strongly related to outcomes in the UK than in many other developed countries.

Presentations

Presentation
The causal impact of school breakfast clubs on academic attainment
Presentation given at the European Economic Association conference, 22 August 2017.
Presentation
The causal impact of school breakfast clubs on academic attainment
This presentation was given by Christine Farquharson at the 2017 Royal Economic Society Conference on 10 April 2017.