Research areas
Department of Economics is the home of research areas including Microeconomics theory, Macroeconomics theory and Econometrics
Explore our research areas
- Microeconomics Theory
- Macroeconomics Theory
- Econometrics
- Behavioural and Experimental Economics
- Economic Growth Innovation and Productivity
- Environmental Energy and Resource Economics
- Health Economics
- Industrial Organization, Competition and Regulation
- International Trade
- Labour Economics
- Political Economy
- Public Economics Finance and Taxation
Microeconomics Theory
The study of decisions made by individuals, firms, and organizations when facing constraints. Topics include consumer and producer theory, choice under uncertainty, general equilibrium theory, game theory, information economics, and mechanism design.
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Terri Kneeland
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Robert Oxoby
Social Identity Theory, Political Economy and Institutions, Performance and Cognition
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Alex Sam
Microeconomic Theory, Information Economics, Industrial Organization, Privacy/Digital Economics
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Blake Shaffer
Electricity Markets, Climate Policy, Energy Transitions
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Christopher Sullivan
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Lucia Vojtassak (Teaching)
Applied Microeconomics, Economics Education and Teaching of Economics
Macroeconomics Theory
Macroeconomics studies how an overall economy—the market systems operating on a large scale—behaves. Topics include aggregate employment, income, investment, saving, prices, interest rates, asset prices, as well as growth, fiscal and monetary policy.
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Yu (Sonja) Chen
Labour Market, Search and Matching Theory, Frictional Markets, Small and Mid-size Enterprise (SME)
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Aamir Hashmi (Teaching)
Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy, Universal Basic Income
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Apostolos Serletis
Monetary Theory, Financial Econometrics, Consumer Demand Modeling, Nonlinear and Complex Dynamics
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Trevor Tombe
International and Interprovincial Trade, Misallocation and Productivity, Fiscal Federalism, Canadian Public Finance
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Kunio Tsuyuhara
Econometrics
Econometrics is the quantitative application of statistical and mathematical models using data to develop theories or test existing hypotheses in economics and to forecast future trends from historical data. Topics include probability theory, asymptotic theory, parametric and nonparametric modeling, time series, panel data methods, and microeconometrics.
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Benjamin Crost
Development Economics, Political Economy, Health Economics
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Leonard Goff
Applied Econometrics, Causal Inference and Labour Economics
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Jean-William Laliberte
Economics of Education, Intergenerational Mobility, Inequality, Applied Econometrics
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Arvind Magesan
Political Economy, Structural Econometrics, Applied Microeconometrics
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Atsuko Tanaka
Skill Investment and Labour Productivity, Dynamic Policy Evaluation, Female Labor Supply, Statistical Discrimination
Behavioural and Experimental Economics
Behavioral and Experiment Economics is the study of psychology as it relates to the economic decision-making processes of individuals and institutions, tested in a laboratory environment using experimental methods. Topics include rational choice, bounded rationality, prospect theory, dual-system theory, time discounting, fairness, trust and honesty, social preferences and norms.
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Terri Kneeland
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Robert Oxoby
Social Identity Theory, Political Economy and Institutions, Performance and Cognition
Economic Growth, Innovation, and Productivity
Research in economic growth, innovation, and productivity studies determinants of differences in productive capacities across organizations, regions and countries. Research in this area explores roles capital accumulation, technological change, and frictions in generating economic growth, seeking to identify and measure the drivers of growth and the determinants of innovation.
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Benjamin Crost
Development Economics, Political Economy, Health Economics
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Aamir Hashmi (Teaching)
Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy, Universal Basic Income
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Lindsay Tedds
Inclusive Growth, Municipal Public Finance, Tax Policy, Poverty Reduction
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Trevor Tombe
International and Interprovincial Trade, Misallocation and Productivity, Fiscal Federalism, Canadian Public Finance
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Alexander Whalley
Spatial Models of Innovation and Regional Development, Local Public Good Provision, Labor Market Impacts of New Technology
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Jennifer Winter
Emissions Pricing, Environmental and Energy Policy, Innovation and Energy Transitions, Canadian Economic History
Environmental, Energy, and Resource Economics
Environmental economics provides a framework for thinking about whether environmental issues necessitate government interventions in markets, and to what extent. Topics include energy markets, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and valuation of environmental goods.
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Garret Fellows
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Sarah Johnston
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Lucija Muehlenbachs
Environmental Justice, Inspections and Enforcement, Environmental Liabilities, Oil and Gas Markets
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Erica Myers
Climate Policy, Energy Transitions, Residential Energy consumption
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Apostolos Serletis
Monetary Theory, Financial Econometrics, Consumer Demand Modeling, Nonlinear and Complex Dynamics
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Blake Shaffer
Electricity Markets, Climate Policy, Energy Transitions
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Scott Taylor
Economic Growth and Sustainability, Trade and the Environment, Globalization and Resource Use
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David Walls
Entertainment Industry Economics, Energy and Transportation Economics, Gambling Industry, Counterfeiting and Piracy
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Jennifer Winter
Emissions Pricing, Environmental and Energy Policy, Innovation and Energy Transitions, Canadian Economic History
Health Economics
Health economics studies economic determinants and consequences of differences in health outcomes. Research topics in this area identifying and measuring the benefits of health intervention, economic impacts through population health studies, and the role of pollution and substance abuse on economic outcomes.
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Aidan Hollis
Pharmaceutical Markets, Electricity
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Mingshan Lu
Health Economics, Integrative Medicine
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Atsuko Tanaka
Female labor supply, Human capital investment
Industrial Organization, Competition and Regulation
Industrial organization studies market competition, the strategic behavior of firms, regulatory and antitrust policy. Topics include determinants and consequences of industrial market structure, public control of utilities and antitrust regulation, dynamic oligopoly, collusion and technological change.
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Garret Fellows
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Aidan Hollis
Pharmaceutical Markets, Electricity
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Sarah Johnston
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Arvind Magesan
Political Economy, Structural Econometrics, Applied Microeconometrics
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Christopher Sullivan
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Lucia Vojtassak (Teaching)
Applied Microeconomics, Economics Education and Teaching of Economics
International Trade
International trade studies the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. Topics include economic models of trade, measuring and identifying the determinants of the gains from trade, customs unions and free trade agreements and the relationships between international trade, labor markets, and the income distribution.
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Eugene Beaulieu
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Scott Taylor
Economic Growth and Sustainability, Trade and the Environment, Globalization and Resource Use
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Trevor Tombe
International and Interprovincial Trade, Misallocation and Productivity, Fiscal Federalism, Canadian Public Finance
Labour Economics
Labour economics explores the functioning and dynamics of the markets for wage labour and the determinants of individual wages. Topics include the functioning of labour markets, human capital and wage determination, wage inequality, unemployment and minimum wages.
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Leonard Goff
Casual inference, applied econometrics, nonparametric econometrics, labour economics
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Jean-William Laliberte
Economics of Education, Intergenerational Mobility, Inequality, Applied Econometrics
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Stefan Staubli
Pension Programs and Retirement, Unemployment and Disability Insurance, Parental Leave and Family Policies, Inequality and Redistribution
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Atsuko Tanaka
Skill Investment and Labour Productivity, Dynamic Policy Evaluation, Female Labor Supply, Statistical Discrimination
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Alexander Whalley
Spatial Models of Innovation and Regional Development, Local Public Good Provision, Labor Market Impacts of New Technology
Political Economy
Research in political economy focuses on the interaction between economic policies and outcomes with political institutions. Topics include economic development, income inequality and economic growth, and the quality of government, administrative, and social institutions.
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Eugene Beaulieu
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Arvind Magesan
Political Economy, Structural Econometrics, Applied Microeconometrics
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Lindsay Tedds
Inclusive Growth, Municipal Public Finance, Tax Policy, Poverty Reduction
Public Economics, Finance and Taxation
Public economics provides a framework for thinking about whether or not the government should participate in economic markets and, if so, how and to what extent. Topics include theories of government provision of public goods, the role and effects of taxation, and costs and benefits of social and government expenditure programs.
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Eugene Beaulieu
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Heidi Esau (Teaching)
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Aamir Hashmi (Teaching)
Macroeconomics
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Jean-William Laliberte
Intergenerational Mobility, Inequality, Economics of Education, Applied Econometrics
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Blake Shaffer
Electricity Markets, Climate Policy, Energy Transitions
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Stefan Staubli
Pension Programs and Retirement, Unemployment and Disability Insurance, Parental Leave and Family Policies, Inequality and Redistribution
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Lindsay Tedds
Inclusive Growth, Municipal Public Finance, Tax Policy, Poverty Reduction
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Trevor Tombe
International and Interprovincial Trade, Misallocation and Productivity, Fiscal Federalism, Canadian Public Finance
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Jennifer Winter
Emissions Pricing, Environmental and Energy Policy, Innovation and Energy Transitions, Canadian Economic History
