Kate Rybczynski

Associate Professor
Kathleen Rybczynski

krybczynski@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 x42146
Office: HH 210

CV: Kate Rybczynski

 Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) (Georgetown University-School of Foreign Service); MA (Waterloo); PhD (Queen's)

Areas of specialization: Labour economics; Health economics; Economics of gender

Research interests

My research spans several topics. My PhD focused on gender differences in entry, earnings and duration in self-employment. I also developed a three state wage posting model to predict that if credit constraints are binding for women but not men, the subsequent gender gap in expected self-employment returns could generate a gender gap in wages. More recently I have investigated whether minimum wage regulation affects specific subgroups of the population more than others (i.e. Women versus Men, Immigrant versus Native Born). And in a SSHRC funded project (with Lori Curtis), I explore whether differences in community level market composition are correlated with differences in individual self-reported health. Results indicate that individuals living in communities with proportionately more small businesses have a higher probability of reporting excellent health.

Biography

With the intent of becoming a politician and making the world a more peaceful place, I began my studies at Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service. However, during a course on Economics of the Middle East, I decided that the most important factor in domestic and international relations is economics, and so I set out to complete an MA and later a PhD in the subject. Switching from Trade to Resource to Labour studies, I found that I love both theory and applied aspects of economics. 

My current research interests are broad, spanning topics in Labour, Well-being, and Health, as well as Risk Aversion and Market Composition.  I also enjoy Macroeconomics, and in particular, Search and Matching Theory.

On a personal note: No, I am not related to Tadeusz Rybczynski!

Selected publications

  • Rybczynski, Kate, “Alternative Medicine, Worker Health, and Absenteeism in the United States.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Vol. 32, June 2017.
     https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1VCpO3RTyQIQ~e

  • Rybczynski, Kate & Sen, Anindya, "Employment Effects of the Minimum Wage: Panel Data Evidence from Canadian Provinces" . Accepted at Contemporary Economic Policy, February, 2017.​

  • Rybczynski, Kate, "Gender differences in portfolio risk across birth cohort and martial status." Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 48, No. 1, February 2015. https://ideas.repec.org/a/cje/issued/v48y2015i1p28-63.html
  • Curtis, Lori & Rybczynski, Kate, "Exiting poverty: Does sex matter?" Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 40, No. 2, June 2014. http://mr.crossref.org/iPage?doi=10.3138%2Fcpp.2012-001
  • Rybczynski, Kate, "What Drives Self-Employment Survival for Women and Men? Evidence from Canada", Journal of Labor Research, Vol. 36, No. 1, March 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s12122-014-9194-4 
  • Rybczynski, Kate, & Curtis, Lori, "Can market structure explain cross-country differences in health?" Farmeconomia: Health economics and theraputic pathways, Vol. 14 No.1, 2013.

Please refer to my CV for a full listing of publications.