Kathleen Mullen

Kathleen J. Mullen is a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Social Research at the University of Southern California. Her research addresses intersections between health and work. A longstanding focus of her research examines the effects of health on employment, particularly as they relate to disability insurance systems (such as Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers’ Compensation programs) and disability policy more generally. A second strand of research focuses on the role of job demands and working conditions in determining health status and labor force participation, particularly at older ages. A common thread throughout her work is the application of novel econometric and data collection methods to questions of causal inference, combining insights gained from structural modeling, quasi-experimental and experimental approaches. Mullen received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

• Ph.D. Economics, University of Chicago, 2005
• B.A. Economics, University of Virginia, 1999