CHE Seminar Series: Transgender economics
This article reviews the transgender economics literature and synthesizes its key findings with a simple economic model of gender. We document four empirical patterns: transgender people face pervasive discrimination; transgender people have worse health outcomes than cisgender people; gender identity conversion therapy is associated with worsened mental health; and the effects of gender transition are nonlinear, with early gender identity milestones often coinciding with increased distress and later stages improving health and well-being. To explain these patterns, we provide the first economic model of gender. We formalize gender as a constrained choice problem: individuals derive utility from expressing their gender identity but must forgo consumption to modify their gender expression, creating a tradeoff. When one’s expression deviates from the norms tied to one’s perceived gender, discrimination reduces their identity payoff. Individuals thus balance benefits of identity expression against the costs of discrimination, minority stress, gender dysphoria, and foregone consumption.
Speaker profile
Travis Campbell is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Southern Oregon University. He is an applied microeconomist researching health policy, labor markets, and LGBTQ economics. His work has been published in leading journals including PNAS, JAMA Pediatrics, The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, Journal of Health Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics, and has been featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, and Scientific American. His scholarship has earned him the American Economic Association’s CSQIEP Award for Outstanding Research Paper in LGBTQ+ Economics and the Warren Samuels Prize from the Association for Social Economics.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu .
Event Details
- Date:
- 27 May 2026 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Caulfield campus, Building C, level 1, room C1.21
- Categories:
- CHE Seminar; General
Description
This article reviews the transgender economics literature and synthesizes its key findings with a simple economic model of gender. We document four empirical patterns: transgender people face pervasive discrimination; transgender people have worse health outcomes than cisgender people; gender identity conversion therapy is associated with worsened mental health; and the effects of gender transition are nonlinear, with early gender identity milestones often coinciding with increased distress and later stages improving health and well-being. To explain these patterns, we provide the first economic model of gender. We formalize gender as a constrained choice problem: individuals derive utility from expressing their gender identity but must forgo consumption to modify their gender expression, creating a tradeoff. When one’s expression deviates from the norms tied to one’s perceived gender, discrimination reduces their identity payoff. Individuals thus balance benefits of identity expression against the costs of discrimination, minority stress, gender dysphoria, and foregone consumption.
Speaker profile
Travis Campbell is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Southern Oregon University. He is an applied microeconomist researching health policy, labor markets, and LGBTQ economics. His work has been published in leading journals including PNAS, JAMA Pediatrics, The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, Journal of Health Economics, and Journal of Urban Economics, and has been featured in major media outlets such as The New York Times, and Scientific American. His scholarship has earned him the American Economic Association’s CSQIEP Award for Outstanding Research Paper in LGBTQ+ Economics and the Warren Samuels Prize from the Association for Social Economics.
Weekly seminar series
As part of our Centre's vibrant research culture, we host a weekly seminar series. Visiting and invited researchers present current research relating to the economics of health and wellbeing, and the healthcare sector. Visitors are welcome to join these sessions where discussion and debate is encouraged.
For further information on our seminar series, please contact Trong-Anh.Trinh@monash.edu .