Jennifer Robson

Prior to joining Carleton, Jennifer worked in the Government of Canada first as political staff and later as a public servant. In between, she spent nearly a decade in the voluntary sector, holding senior roles in policy development and research. Her research expertise in social and tax policy takes a very applied focus. She has worked on education savings, tax administration, parental benefits, wealth inequality, poverty and more, all with a particular focus on the financial lives of low- and modest-income persons and attention to administrative burden. Her work has influenced policy change in extended parental benefits in E.I., automation of the Canada Learning Bond, the Canada Disability Benefit, and simplifications to the tax-filing process for lower income Canadians.

She is a co-editor at the Canadian Tax Journal, Canadian Public Policy and a member of the editorial board at Canadian Public Administration. She sits on the board of the Canadian Tax Observatory. Jennifer has also established relationships with leading Canadian think tanks and has sat on advisory bodies for the Royal Society of Canada, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of National Revenue, and the Future Skills Centre. She also maintains collaborations with organizations in the voluntary sector working to engage in the public policy process in Canada.

Recent courses taught:

POLM 5015: Public Policy for Political Advisors
POLM 5016: Applied Public Policy Analysis
PAPM 3000: Policy Research Methods
POLM 5012/PAPM 4012 and PANL 5703: Advocacy and Government Relations in Canada and Public Policy Advocacy

Selected research publications:

Publications related to poverty, benefit design, and tax administration

Robson, J. (2025). “A Brief Look at the Role of Federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes in Municipal Finances”, Canadian Tax Journal 73(3).

Genest-Grégoire,A., J. Robson, S. Schwartz, J. Dadjo (2024). “What Proportion of Tax Returns Could the Canada Revenue Agency Complete?”, Canadian Public Policy, 50(3).

Robson, J. and L. Tedds (2024). “The Canada Disability Benefit: Battling Ableism in Design and Implementation”, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 61(2).

Robson, J. (2022). “Does Non-filing Hinder Access to the Canada Learning Bond for Low-income Families?” Canadian Tax Journal, 70(3), 615-626.

Robson, J. (2022). “The Canada Learning Bond, financial capability and tax-filing: Results from an online survey of low and modest income parents”, research report, Employment and Social Development Canada

Peetz, J., J. Robson, and S. Xuereb (2021). “The Role of Income Volatility and Perceived Locus of Control in Financial Planning Decisions”, Frontiers in Psychology, (12), doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.638043.

Robson, J. (2021). “Policy Forum: Should the Canada Revenue Agency also be a social benefits agency?” Canadian Tax Journal (69:1).

Robson, J. (2021). “Helping low-income Canadians to file taxes and access benefits” in D. Soman and C. Yeung eds. The Behaviorally Informed Organization, University of Toronto Press.

Robson, J. & S. Schwartz (2020). “Who Doesn’t File a Tax Return? A portrait of non-filers” Canadian Public Policy 46(30).

Robson, J. (2020). “EI Failed So We Made CERB: Now what should we learn?” Rebuild Canada, Public Policy Forum.

Giordono, L., D. Rothwell & J. Robson (2020). “Public income transfers and wealth accumulation at the bottom: Within and between country differences in Canada and the United States” Social Policy and Administration 54(6).

Robson, J. (2020).“Radical Incrementalism and Trust in the Citizen: Income Security in Canada in the Time of COVID-19” Canadian Public Policy 46(S1).

Ben-Ishai, S., J. Robson & S. Schwartz (2019). “Eligible Non-participation in Canadian Social Welfare Programs” McGill Law Journal, 64(3).

Peetz, J. & J. Robson (2019). “The Perils of Living Paycheque to Paycheque” Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada.

Robson, J. (2018). “Post-Secondary Access” Transition briefing, Ontario 360, University of Toronto.

Robson, J. (2016).“Enhancing Access to the Canada Learning Bond”, Discussion paper prepared for Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada.

Rothwell, D. & J. Robson (2017). “The prevalence and composition of asset poverty in Canada: 1999, 2005, and 2012” International Journal of Social Welfare, 27(1).

Robson, J. (2012).“The Case for Financial Literacy: Assessing the effects of financial literacy interventions for low income and vulnerable groups in Canada”, Social and Enterprise Development Innovations and the Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy.

Frennette, M. & J. Robson (2010). “Financial Literacy of Low-income Students: Literature Review and Environmental Scan”, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

Robson, J., P. Nares & R. Shillington (2011). “How Ottawa Spends and How Canadians Save” in A. Maslove ed., How Ottawa Spends: 2009-2010: Economic Upheaval and Political Dysfunction, McGill University Press.

Publications related to public administration

Robson, J. (2024). “State Capacity and Administrative Burdens on Citizens: Time for export controls and transparency”, Canadian Public Administration, 67(3).

Robson, J. & M. Jarvis (2020). “Policy forum: Public Costing of Party Platforms: Learning from international experience” Canadian Tax Journal 68(2).

Robson, J. (2018) “Building a tax review fit for purpose: Reconciling the tradeoffs between independence and impact” Canadian Tax Journal.

Robson, J. and P. Wilson. (2018). “Chapter 5: Public servants and political staff in the digital age: Still getting along”, in A. Marland, T. Giassson and A. Lawlor eds., Political Elites in Canada: Power and Influence in Instantaneous Times, University of British Columbia Press.

Robson, J. (2015).“Spending on Political Staffers and the Revealed Preferences of Cabinet”, Canadian Journal of Political Science vol.48(3), 675-697.

Robson, J. (2015). “Did Election 2015 Prove Kim Campbell Wrong?” in Marland, A. and Giasson, T. eds, Canadian Election Analysis 2015: Communication, Strategy and Democracy, UBC Press, 86-88.

Publications related to gender and intersectionality

Robson, J., Tedds, L., eds (2022). Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women in Canada. Royal Society of Canada

Robson. J. & J. Peetz (2020). “Gender differences in financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviors: Accounting for socioeconomic disparities and psychological traits” Journal of Consumer Affairs 54(3).

Robson, J. & J. Peetz (2018). “The impact of personality traits: A fresh look at gender differences in financial literacy“ Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada.

Robson, J. (2017).“Parental Benefits in Canada: Which way forward?“ IRPP Study 63, the Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Disclosure statement (to supplement bio and publications list):

While it is common in most academic disciplines to refuse any partisan affiliation, in Political Management, this is more of an occupational requirement than hazard. That said, I am happy to share and discuss my research with anyone interested. In the 25 years since I left my last paid work as a political staffer, I have worked as a non-partisan public servant and as a senior staff member in two non-partisan charitable organizations. Since joining Carleton, I have provided (on a voluntary basis) occasional technical advice to the Liberal Party of Canada, spoken at a community event organized by the New Democratic Party of Canada, and I have reviewed and commented on policy documents shared by both Progressive Conservative and provincial NDP officials. I have provided occasional technical advice to the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario, all on a voluntary basis. I have been called to testify to various Parliamentary standing committees in both the Senate and House of Commons, as well as the Social Security Review Tribunal. I have not received any compensation for my participation in any federal advisory committee, but have previously received an honorarium for providing peer review services to the Department of Finance, ESDC and the Max Bell Foundation. In 2018, I completed a contract for advice to the Privy Council Office on metrics in results and delivery priorities. My paper (listed above) on the CLB was completed as a research contract for ESDC. Research reports listed above as published by CPA Canada were written under a research contract. I have also completed research projects funded by the Think Forward Initiative, The City of Toronto, and ESDC. I am a member of the Board of the Canadian Tax Observatory and have volunteered with the Community Volunteer Income Tax Clinic hosted by a local community health centre.

Last Revision: December 2025

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