Ursula Kathleen Hicks

Who was Ursula Kathleen Hicks?

Ursula Kathleen Webb Hicks was an Irish-born economist. She was daughter of William and Isabella Webb and wife of John Hicks.

Despite her impressively heavyweight husband, Ursula Hicks was an accomplished scholar in her own right. She was a renowned public finance and development economist. Hicks was also one of the founders of the Review of Economic Studies and Managing Editor there from 1933 to 1961.

Her 1946 paper argued against economic usefulness of the distinction between direct taxes and indirect tax versus taxes on income and expenditures, a distinction now recognized in national accounting.

Lady Ursula Hicks received an Honorary Fellowship at the Institute of Social Studies in 1967.