Associate Professor Victoria Baranov wins national Young Economist Award

Associate Professor Victoria Baranov from the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne has been awarded the Economic Society of Australia's 2026 Young Economist Award.

Established by the Economic Society of Australia in 2006, the Young Economist Award honours an Australian economist under the age of 40 who has made a significant contribution to economic thought, economic knowledge, and the application of economics to public policy and public debate.

The award was announced at the Australian Conference of Economists (ACE) in Canberra last week.

A/Prof Baranov is an economist whose research examines how psychological factors and gender norms shape decision-making and influence families, communities and economic development.

Her landmark American Economic Review study on mental health and poverty followed families for eight years after a randomised trial, showing that treating maternal depression leads to lasting gains in women's empowerment and investment in their children. The first study to causally link mental health to economic decision-making, it helped establish a new field within economics. Her ongoing research explores scalable mental health treatments and the links between depression and intimate partner violence.

A/Prof Baranov is also a pioneer in bringing the study of masculinity to economics, examining why men dominate many economic hierarchies yet experience poorer mental health and wellbeing outcomes.

Dr Baranov said she was honoured to receive the award and grateful to the colleagues, students and collaborators who had supported her work.

I am incredibly honoured to receive the Young Economist Award and to join a list of past recipients whose work I have long admired. Economics is at its best when it engages with the complex realities of people's lives, and that means learning from disciplines like psychology, sociology, and anthropology that have long grappled with mental health, relationships, and social norms. I'm grateful the Society has recognised research in this spirit. This award reflects the work of many wonderful collaborators and partners around the world, and I share it with them.

Victoria’s supervisor, Professor Phil McCalman said the award reflected the impact and significance of Dr Baranov's contribution to the economics profession.

"Victoria has built an exceptional research program around questions that matter deeply for people’s lives. Her work combines intellectual ambition with careful empirical analysis and has changed how economists think about mental health, gender norms and economic development. This award is thoroughly deserved and reflects both the quality of her scholarship and her growing influence within the profession."

Baranov's active projects include experiments with over 4,000 new fathers in China and fieldwork in Timor-Leste, examine why fathers under-invest in early childhood despite wanting to be more involved, pointing to low-cost, scalable ways to change that. Her work spans four continents and draws on collaborations across psychology, psychiatry, public health, and anthropology.

The Young Economist Award is one of the profession's most prestigious early-career honours and recognises economists whose work is shaping both academic debate and public policy.