U of U Family and Consumer Studies

Cathleen D. Zick

Professor and Director of the Masters Program in Public Policy
zick@fcs.utah.edu


Phone:   Fax:   Office:
801.581.3147   801.581.5156   228 Alfred Emery Building
Ph.D., Consumer Economics and Housing, Cornell University

Research Interests:
  Dr. Zick is a family and consumer economist interested in household time allocation, household structure and economic well-being, and family/consumer policy. She has taught a number of different classes over the past 23 years including: Family Economic Resources (FCS 3450), Consumers, Markets and Government (FCS 3450/5440), Family Policy (FCS 6200), Research Methods (FCS 3200), and Families and Economic Policy (FCS 6400/5400).

Dr. Zick is currently working with Dr. W. Keith Bryant at Cornell University on updating their estimates of the economic value of housework and assessing its implications for income distribution in the United States.  Areas of past research include (1) assessing the economic value of household work, (2) examining how the death of a spouse affects the surviving spouse's economic and health status, and (3) determining the impact of deregulation on consumer welfare in the airlines and telecommunications markets.

Dr. Zick's work has been published in such journals as, Health Affairs,  Demography, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Social Science Research, and the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. She serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Consumer Affairs, The Journal of Family and Economic Issues, the Review of Economics of the Household, Journal of Marriage and the Family, and the Family and Consumer Science Research Journal. She was chairperson of the American Council on Consumer Interests' 1996 national conference. In 1995, she served as the Lowell Bennion Public Service Professor. She served on the Board of Directors for the American Council on Consumer Interests from 1990-92 and again in 2000-2002.  In 2003, she was the recipient of the College of Social and Behavioral Science Superior Research Award.
 

Recent Publications:
  • Books
    Bryant, W. Keith and Cathleen D. Zick. 2006. The Economic Organization of the Household - Revised Edition. New York City: Cambridge University Press.
  • Zick, Cathleen D. and Ken R. Smith (Eds.) 2006. Utah at the Beginning of the New Millennium - A Demographic Perspective. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press.

  • Journal Articles
    Fan, Jessie X., Barbara B. Brown, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Ken R. Smith, and Cathleen D. Zick. “Patterns of Household Food Expenditures: A Cluster Analysis.” Monthly Labor Review, forthcoming.
  • Zick, Cathleen D., Ken R. Smith, Barbara B. Brown, Jessie X. Fan, and Lori Kowaleski-Jones. “The Changing Composition of Physical Activity in the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood.” Journal of Physical Activity and Health, vol. 4, no. 2 (April 2007), pp. 125-137.
  • Fan, Jessie X. and Cathleen D. Zick. 2006."Expenditure Flows Near Widowhood."  Journal of Family and Economic Issues 27(2): 335-353.
  • Zick, Cathleen D. , Charles Mathews, J. Scott Roberts, Robert Cook-Deegan, Robert J. Pokorski, and Robert C. Green. 2005. "Genetic Susceptibility Testing for Alzheimer's Disease and its Impact on Insurance Behavior." Health Affairs. 24(2): 483-490.
  • Zick, Cathleen D., Jessie X. Fan, and Kuo-Liang Chang.  2004."Impending Widowhood and Health Care Spending." Social Science Research. 33(3):538-555.
  • Fan, Jessie X. and Cathleen D. Zick. 2004.  "The Economic Burden Imposed by Health Care, Funeral, and Burial Expenditures at the End of Life.” The Journal of Consumer Affairs. 38(1):35-55.
  • Bryant, W. Keith, Hyojin Kang, Cathleen D. Zick, and Anna Chan. 2004. "Measuring Housework in Time Use Surveys.” Review of Economics of the Household. 2(1):23-47.
  • Bryant, W. Keith,Hyojin Kang, Cathleen D. Zick, and Anna Chan. 2003. “His and Hers: Evaluating Husbands’ Reports of Wives’ Housework.” Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, vol. 32, no. 1, pp 8-26.
  • Smith, Ken R., Cathleen D. Zick, Robert N. Mayer, and Jeffery Botkin. 2002. "Voluntary Disclosure of BRCA1 Mutation Test Results." Genetic Testing, vol. 6 no. 2, pp. 89-92.
  • Zick, Cathleen D. 2002. "Clocking the Progress in Time Use--Research, Data, and Policy." Review Essay in the Review of Income and Wealth, Series 48, no. 3, pp. 435-442.
  • Nielsen, Robert B., Cathleen D. Zick, Robert N. Mayer, and Ken R. Smith. 2001 "Genetic Testing and the Demand for Cancer Insurance." Journal of Consumer Policy, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 1-21.
  • Zick, Cathleen D., W. Keith Bryant, and Eva Osterbacka. 2001 "Mother's Employment, Parental Involvement, and the Implications for Children's Behavior." Social Science Research, vol. 30, pp. 25-49.
  • Zick, Cathleen D., Ken R. Smith, Robert N. Mayer, and Jeffery Botkin. 2000. "Genetic Testing, Adverse Selection, and the Demand for Life Insurance." American Journal of Medical Genetics, vol. 93, pp. 29-39.
  • Zick, Cathleen D. and Karen C. Holden. 2000. "An Assessment of the Wealth Holdings of Recent Widows." Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, vol. 55B(2): 590-597.
  • Smith, Ken R., Cathleen D. Zick, Robert N. Mayer, and Jeffery R. Botkin. 1998. "Genetic Testing and Adverse Selection in the Market for Life Insurance: Preliminary Findings from the BRCA1 Gene Mutation." In A. K. Thompson and R. F. Chadwick (Eds.) pp. 57-70, Genetic Information: Acquisition, Access, and Control. New York: Klewer Academic Publishers.
  • Mayer, Robert N., Ken R. Smith, Cathleen D. Zick, and Jeffery R. Botkin. 1998. "Coercion, Control, and Consequences in Genetic Testing: Views on Insurance Among Tested Individuals and the General Public." In A. K. Thompson and R. F. Chadwick (Eds.) pp. 41-56, Genetic Information: Acquisition, Access, and Control, New York: Klewer Academic Publishers.
  • Holden, Karen C. and Kathleen D. Zick. 1998. "The Roles of Social Insurance, Private Pensions, and Earnings in Explaining the Economic Vulnerability of Widowed Women in the United States. International Studies on Social Security, Vol. 4. Foundation for International Studies on Social Security, Ashgate.
  • Holden, Karen C. and Cathleen D. Zick. 1998. "Insuring against the Consequences of Widowhood in a Reformed Social Security System." In R. Douglas Arnold, Michael J. Graetz, and Alicia H. Munnell (Eds.) Framing the Social Security Debate, pp. 157-169. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.
 

Working Papers:
  • Zick, Cathleen D. “Over-Scheduled or At Loose Ends? A New Look at Adolescent Time Use.”  Presented at the 2007 Population Association of America's Conference, New York City, March.
  • Kowaleski-Jones, Lori, Barbara B. Brown, Jessie X. Fan, Ken R. Smith, and Cathleen D. Zick. “Are You What Your Mother Eats? Evaluating the Impact of Maternal Weight Trajectories on Youth Overweight.”
  • Smith, Ken R. Brabara B. Brown, Jessie X. Fan, Lori Kowaleski-Jones and Cathleen D. Zick. "Where Weight Waxes and Wanes: Spatial Variation in Body Mass Indices and the Implications for Public Policy."
  • Zick, Cathleen D., W. Keith Bryant, and Sivithee Srisukhumbowornchai. “Does Housework Matter Anymore? The Shifting Impact of Housework on Economic Inequality.”
 

Classes Taught:
  FCS 3450 - Family Economics Across the Life Course

FCS 6563/PUBPL 6563 /PADMIN 6563 - Program and Policy Evaluation

FCS 5430 - Families, Consumers, and Health Care