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Ghazala Azmat.

Ghazala Azmat

Associate

Expertise: Labour Economics, Public Economics, Gender Economics, Industrial Organisation Economics

Links:
CEP Labour

Biography

Ghazala Azmat was an associate of the Centre for Economic Performance, having been both an undergraduate at LSE and received her PhD in economics from LSE. She held academic positions at Queen Mary University of London and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra before joining Sciences Po. She was also a Research Fellow at CEPR, CESifo, and IZA, and a Junior Member of the Institut Universitaire de France. She was chair of the European Economic Association?s Standing Committee on Women in Economics, director of the Organizational Economics Programme at CEPR, and an associate editor of Economica. Read the tribute to Ghazala from Sciences Po here: https://www.sciencespo.fr/department-economics/news/ghazala-azmat-1979-2025/

Publications

Journal article
Workplace presenteeism, job substitutability, and gender inequality

This paper explores how the parenthood wage penalty is partially explained by an increased within-couple gap in job uniqueness (i.e., the within-establishment substitutability of workers). Uniqueness is rewarded with hig... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Lena Hensvik and Olof Rosenqvist

01 January 2026

Blog
The economics of organisational strategy

Many of today's global problems, such as sustainability, technology, skills, and diversity can only be solved by organisations. This column argues that more work is needed to understand strategic management by firms, how... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Florian Englmaier, Alfonso Gambardella, Maria Guadalupe, Raffaella Sadun and Catherine Thomas

09 September 2024

Blog
The economics of strategy (podcast)

Organisations don't just provide employment: they solve, or attempt to solve, important problems in our society. Organizational economics has made some impressive strides in recent years to show what choices organisation... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat

06 September 2024

Journal article
Gender promotion gaps and career aspirations

Using a representative survey of U.S. lawyers, we document a sizeable gender gap in early partnership aspirations, which explains half of the later gender promotion gap. We further document that the correlation between a... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Vicente Cu?at and Emeric Henry

24 May 2024

Journal article
Labor market returns to higher education

The persistent high wage premium associated with college education, despite increasing participation rates, continues to generate a great deal of academic and policy interest. While it is widely agreed that the financia... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Jack Britton

17 April 2024

Journal article
Formation of college plans: expected returns, preferences and adjustment process

We exploit a large exogenous shock to study the formation, and updating, of educational plans, and to examine how these plans ultimately impact later educational attainment. Using novel, longitudinal, microdata on cohort... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Katja Kaufmann

01 April 2024

Journal article
Workplace presenteeism, job substitutability and gender inequality

This paper explores how the parenthood wage penalty is partially explained by an increased within-couple gap in job uniqueness (i.e., the within-establishment substitutability of workers). Uniqueness is rewarded with hig... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Lena Hensvik and Olof Rosenqvist

01 September 2022

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Young people's university plans: evidence from German reunification

Around a decade after Germany's reunification, a long-standing educational gap between the east and west of the country - completion of the certificate needed to enter university - had closed. Ghazala Azmat and Katja Kau... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Katja Kaufmann

21 June 2022

Blog
Evidence from East Germany: how young people's education plans are shaped by their environment

The decision to go to university can have a major impact on an individual's financial future and quality of life. Yet we know relatively little about how these decisions are made and adapted within different contexts. Dr... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Katja Kaufmann

02 September 2021

CEP discussion papers
Formation of college plans: expected returns, preferences and adjustment process

We exploit a large exogenous shock to study the determinants of college attendance and the role played by one's environment. We analyze whether, and how quickly, adolescents' college plans are adapted, explore factors le... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Katja Kaufmann

05 May 2021

Journal article
Charging for higher education: estimating the impact on inequality and student outcomes

Over the last two decades, undergraduate university education in England moved from being state-funded and free for students, to costing all students substantial amounts in tuition fees. In this paper, using detailed adm... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Stefania Simion

01 January 2021

Journal article
Gender diversity in firms

This paper explores the recent efforts by the corporate world and public policy to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the workplace. We review and empirically evaluate the `business case? for gender ... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Anne Boring

01 January 2020

Journal article
What you don't know. . .can't hurt you? A natural field experiment on relative performance feedback in higher education

This paper studies the effect of providing feedback to college students on their position in the grade distribution by using a natural field experiment. This information was updated every six months during a three-year p... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Manuel Bagues, Antonio Cabrales and Nagore Iriberri

01 August 2019

Journal article
Incidence, salience, and spillovers: the direct and indirect effects of tax credits on wages

Tax credits are a popular way to alleviate in-work poverty. A common empirical assumption is that the benefit of the tax credit is borne solely by the claimant workers. However, economic theory suggests no particular rea... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat

01 February 2019

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Universities and industrial strategy in the UK

The UK?s higher education sector is a source of national strength with the potential to contribute to all areas of the government?s industrial strategy. Anna Valero and colleagues review the evidence on how the positive ... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Richard Murphy, Anna Valero and Gill Wyness

02 November 2018

CEP industrial strategy
Universities and industrial strategy in the UK: review of evidence and implications for policy

As producers of human capital, innovation and as large institutions in their own right, UK universities can make important contributions across the five foundations that underpin the government's Industrial Strategy: peo... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Richard Murphy, Anna Valero and Gill Wyness

04 October 2018

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Higher education funding reforms in England

Reforms in higher education funding, which have taken England from offering free-of-charge, full-time undergraduate studies to being one of the most expensive systems in the OECD, have led to a reduction in the participa... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Stefania Simion

29 June 2018

Journal article
The distribution of talent across contests

Do the contests with the largest prizes attract the most able contestants? To what extent do contestants avoid competition? We show that the distribution of abilities is crucial in determining contest choice. Complete so... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Marc Moller

01 March 2018

CEP discussion papers
Higher education funding reforms: a comprehensive analysis of educational and labour market outcomes in England

This paper investigates the impact of changes in the funding of higher education in England on students? choices and outcomes. Over the last two decades ? through three major reforms in 1998, 2006 and 2012 ? undergraduat... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Stefania Simion

02 February 2018

Journal article
Gender gaps in performance: evidence from young lawyers

This paper documents the gender gap in performance among highskilled professionals in the United States. On the basis of widely used performance measures in law firms, we find that male lawyers bill 10 percent more hours... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer

01 October 2017

Journal article
Gender differences in response to big stakes

It is commonly perceived that increasing incentives improves performance. However, the reaction to increased incentives might differ between men and women, leading to gender differences in performance. In a natural exper... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Caterina Calsamiglia and Nagore Iriberri

01 December 2016

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
In brief... Under pressure: gender differences in responding to exam stakes

Do girls and boys respond differently to exam pressure, perhaps depending on the subject and whether or not the tests are 'high stakes'? Ghazala Azmat and colleagues consider evidence for secondary school age children ... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Caterina Calsamiglia and Nagore Iriberri

06 November 2015

CEP election analysis papers
#ElectionEconomics: The Research Evidence on Key Issues for Voters in the 2015 UK General Election

Please see the CEP #ElectionEconomics report(Paper 1)and the Executive Summary (Paper 2) that cover all the election 2015 briefings, discussing the research evidence on 15 of the UK's key policy battlegrounds: immigratio... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Brian Bell, Jonathan Colmer, Antoine Dechezlepretre, Swati Dhingra, Christian A. L. Hilber, Stephen Machin, Alan Manning, Ralf Martin, Alistair McGuire, Sandra McNally, Gianmarco I. P. Ottaviano, Henry G. Overman, Isabelle Roland, Thomas Sampson, Anna Valero, John Van Reenen, Jonathan Wadsworth, Gill Wyness and Gabriel Zucman

30 April 2015

CEP election analysis papers
Gender Gaps in the UK Labour Market: jobs, pay and family-friendly policies

Differences in the labour market experiences of men and women have fallen over the last 20 years, but there are still sizeable `gender gaps? in employment and wages. Certain factors help to explain a good part of gender ... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat

01 April 2015

CEP discussion papers
Gender differences in response to big stakes

It is commonly perceived that increasing incentives improves performance. However, the reaction to increased incentives might differ between men and women, leading to gender differences in performance. In a natural exper... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Caterina Calsamiglia and Nagore Iriberri

17 November 2014

Journal article
Gender and the labor market: What have we learned from field and lab experiments?

We discuss the contribution of the experimental literature to the understanding of both traditional and previously unexplored dimensions of gender differences and discuss their bearings on labor market outcomes. Experime... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Barbara Petrongolo

01 October 2014

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Gender and the labour market: evidence from experiments

Lab experiments are an increasingly valuable tool for understanding differences in how men and women are treated in the labour market. Dr Ghazala Azmat and Professor Barbara Petrongolo explore what has been learned about... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Barbara Petrongolo

08 May 2014

CEP occasional papers
Gender and the labor market: What have we learned from field and lab experiments?

We discuss the contribution of the experimental literature to the understanding of both traditional and previously unexplored dimensions of gender differences and discuss their bearings on labor market outcomes. Experime... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Barbara Petrongolo

14 March 2014

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Gender gaps in performance

Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer analyse data on young lawyers to understand what drives differences in earnings between highly skilled men and women.... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer

20 September 2012

CEP discussion papers
Gender Gaps in Performance: Evidence from Young Lawyers

This paper documents and studies the gender gap in performance among associate lawyers in the United States. Unlike other high-skilled professions, the legal profession assesses performance using transparent measures tha... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Rosa Ferrer

21 March 2012

CEP discussion papers
The Provision of Relative Performance Feedback Information: An Experimental Analysis of Performance and Happiness

This paper studies the effect of providing relative performance feedback information on individuals? performance and affective response, under both piece-rate and flat-rate incentives. In a laboratory setup, agents perfo... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Nagore Iriberri

24 January 2012

CEP discussion papers
The Importance of Relative Performance Feedback Information: Evidence from a Natural Experiment using High School Students

We study the effect of providing relative performance feedback information on performance under piece-rate incentives. A natural experiment that took place in a high school offers an unusual opportunity to test this effe... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat and Nagore Iriberri

01 March 2009

CEP discussion papers
Privatization, Entry Regulation and the Decline of Labor's Share of GDP: A Cross-Country Analysis of the Network Industries

Labor?s share of GDP in most OECD countries has declined over the last two decades. Some authors have suggested that these changes are linked to deregulation of product and labor markets. To examine this we focus on a la... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Alan Manning and John Van Reenen

01 June 2007

CEP discussion papers
The Incidence of an Earned Income Tax Credit: Evaluating the Impact on Wages in the UK

Tax credits have been a popular way to alleviate in-work poverty. The assumption is typically that the incidence is on the claimant workers. However, economic theory suggests no particular reason to believe that this sho... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat

01 May 2006

CentrePiece - The magazine of the Centre for Economic Performance
Women looking for work

Female unemployment rates differ widely from county to country. Ghazala Azmat, Maia Guell and Alan Manning look for the reasons that might explain this particular gender gap.... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Maia Guell and Alan Manning

01 June 2004

CEP discussion papers
Gender Gaps in Unemployment Rates in OECD Countries

There is an enormous literature on gender gaps in pay and labour market participation but virtually no literature on gender gaps in unemployment rates. Although there are some countries in which there is essentially no g... Read more...

Ghazala Azmat, Maia Guell and Alan Manning

01 January 2004

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