Elizabeth Dhuey

Elizabeth Dhuey is an economist and professor of economics at the University of Toronto. Her research is in the economics of education and public policy, with a focus on early childhood education, special education identification and finance, age at school entry, school organization and leadership, and education and workforce development. She is director of the Toronto Region Statistics Canada Research Data Centre and co-director of Equity in Education Canada.

She joined the Department of Management at University of Toronto Scarborough as an assistant professor in 2007, became an associate professor in 2014, and was promoted to professor in 2024.

Dhuey co-directs Equity in Education Canada, a research group focused on inequities in early childhood education and care, formal education, and youth training.

Research

Dhuey's research often uses large administrative datasets and quasi-experimental methods to examine how institutional design, resource allocation, and public policy affect educational and economic outcomes. With Stephen Lipscomb, she studied relative age in special education identification. Later work with David Figlio, Krzysztof Karbownik, and Jeffrey Roth examined school-starting age and cognitive development from childhood through age 18.

Her other research has examined grade-level configuration, the contribution of school principals to student achievement, and the design and distribution of special education funding.

Her work on early childhood and family policy includes research on full-day kindergarten and maternal labour supply, public investment in early childhood education and care in Canada, and approaches to teaching interpersonal problem-solving skills in early childhood settings.

Dhuey's research on relative age was featured in a 2012 episode of 60 Minutes. The program also discussed Malcolm Gladwell's use of her research in his book Outliers.

Selected publications