Ursula K. Hicks : Reviewer, Editor, and Gatekeeper

Ursula Kathleen Webb Hicks (1896 – 1985) was Oxford’s Lecturer in Public Finance for nearly twenty years. She published a dozen books on public finance. She co-founded the Review of Economic Studies and served as managing editor for twenty-eight years, making her the first woman editor of a leading economics journal. Yet, contemporary references to Hicks are sparse. Some attribute this to a shift in interest, as traditional public finance gave way to a more expansive public economics. Others speculate her gender may have played a role in the undervaluing of her work. However, it is not only work by women that often goes unacknowledged in the discipline – so too does the work of journal editors, referees, and book reviewers. In this essay, I argue for the importance of this type of work – work that defines the boundaries of a field and grades the quality of what is produced. In doing so, I make a case for Ursula Hicks as an underappreciated economist