Bill Warburton

Bill Warburton

CEO, Enterprise Economic Consulting

Bill Warburton has been using linked administrative data to investigate social policy issues in British Columbia for the past 35 years.  He is particularly interested in distinguishing between cause and effect and mere correlations, addressing questions such as:

• Does graduating from high school reduce income assistance use, using principals as an instrument? (It does.)
• Does receiving Income Assistance lead to more IA use, using verification officers as an instrument? (It doesn’t.)
• Does being taken into care worsen children’s outcomes (using policy changes and social workers as instruments)? (It does.)
• Do training programs for the disadvantaged increase employment (various instruments and approaches)? (In some cases.)

For the past four years he has been working on the Basic Income Study and its mandate to chart a course to a more just society.

Bill received his B.A. from Queen’s University, M.A. from the University of Western Ontario and his Ph.D. from the University of London, all in economics.