She then pursued a PhD in economics at the University College London (UCL), graduating in 1995 with a dissertation on "Education, Training and Earnings in Australia and Britain".
Since early 1995, Dearden has been affiliated with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, whose education sector she directs and where she currently works as research fellow.
[6] Dearden has conducted extensive research on the determinants and returns to education along with Richard Blundell, Costas Meghir, Barbara Sianesi, Alissa Goodman, Howard Reed, and Anna Vignoles.
[8] In further work, Dearden, Blundell, Goodman and Reed estimate that, controlling for individual characteristics, an undergraduate degree raised the earnings of British men and women from the 1958 cohort by, on average, 17% and 37%, respectively, with lower returns for higher degrees and non-degree higher education.
[11] Finally, Dearden, Blundell and Sianesi estimate that, compared to dropping out of secondary school at age 16, O-levels raise earnings by 18%, A-levels by 24% and higher education by 48%.