Professor Lisa Cameron

Lisa Cameron  is the James Riady Chair of Asian Economics and Business and a Professorial Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne where she leads the program on Disadvantage and Wellbeing in the Asia-Pacific. She is an empirical micro-economist whose research incorporates the techniques of experimental and behavioural economics so as to better understand human decision-making. Much of her research focuses on policy evaluation - understanding the impacts and behavioural implications of public policy, with a focus on social and economic issues. She is particularly interested in the welfare of disadvantaged and marginalised groups and the socio-economic determinants of health. Much of her research to date has focused on developing countries, particularly Indonesia and China and she has extensive experience collaborating with agencies such as the World Bank and AusAID (DFAT).

Current projects include evaluations of:  (1) an intervention to influence gender norms around working women in Indonesia; (2) a child-directed speech intervention in Timor Leste; (3) an information intervention for international migrant workers; (4) illicit drug rehabilitation in Indonesia;  (5) a cash transfer program in Timor Leste; (6) the expansion of social housing in  Australia; and (7) using administrative data to identify at-risk Aboriginal youth in Australia's Northern Territory.

Lisa received her PhD from Princeton University in 1996. She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences in 2013, a Fellow of the International Economic Association in  2022 and a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia in 2023. She is an affiliated professor at the Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).