Department Happenings

Kuan Xu has been appointed to a three-year term as Chairperson of the Department effective July 1, 2013. He succeeds Lars Osberg who completed his second 3-year term at the end of June. We thank Lars sincerely for his strong leadership and great service over the last six years. We wish Kuan great success in his new position as Chairperson.

The Department hosted a reception for Lars Osberg to recognize his service as Chairperson. The reception was held at the University Club on Thursday, June 27.

The 21st Annual John F. Graham Memorial Lecture was held on February 21,2013. This year’s lecturer was Nicole Fortin, Professor of Economics at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Fortin’s talk was entitled “Leaving Boys Behind: Gender Disparities in High Academic Achievement.” A reception followed. Dr. Fortin also presented “Occupational Tasks and Changes in the Wage Structure (with T. Lemieux and S. Firpo)” on February 22, 2013.

Dozie Okoye (PhD candidate), University of Western Ontario and Weina Zhou (PhD candidate), University of British Columbia, joined the Department of Economics as Assistant Professors in July 2013.

Mel Cross represented Simon Fraser University at Dr. Richard Florizone’s Installation Ceremony as 11th President and Vice-Chancellor of Dalhousie University on October 4, 2013. The occasion included the awarding of honorary doctorates to several leading university presidents from around the world. The presidents also took part in a panel discussion on the future of universities.

Mel Cross was awarded a Lifetime Membership in the Atlantic Canada Economics Association at its 40th Annual Conference of the Atlantic Canada Economics Association, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS, October 19-20, 2013.

Tess Cyrus has been awarded a grant for the project Course Re-designs for the Online Environment to Support Student Retention and Academic Excellence from Dalhousie University's academic initiatives funding in 2013. This project helps the development of the online versions of Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 1101 & 1102).

Ian McAllister was guest speaker at the European Union Centre of Excellence’s Lunch and Learn on October 31st. Ian spoke on Some past European Union (EU) regional development challenges from a Canadian comparative perspective. The talk covered reflections on the earlier phases of regional development priorities, policies and practices in the EU and Canada. Similarities, contrasts and potential opportunities for future cooperation.

Lars Osberg presented “What’s So Bad About More Inequality” at the Center for Wealth and Inequality Workshop, Columbia University, New York, October 3, 2013; Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, November 11, 2013 and Keynote Address to Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia-2013 Annual Symposium “Levelling the Spirit: Addressing the Social Impacts of Economic Inequality,” Canberra, Australia, November 12, 2013.

Shelley Phipps is currently serving as Vice-President of the Canadian Economics Association (CEA). The CEA is the organization of academic economists in Canada and has around 1500 members across the country and from abroad. The CEA publishes the Canadian Journal of Economics and organizes an annual conference. The Canadian Public Policy journal is also affiliated with the CEA.

Weina Zhou presented “The Long-Term Impact of the Send-Down Program During the Chinese Cultural Revolution” at the Northeastern Universities Development Consortium Conference held at Harvard University on November 2-3, 2013.

Lars Osberg has been awarded the 2014 John Kenneth Galbraith Prize from the Progressive Economics Forum (PEF). He will deliver the Galbraith Lecture at the Canadian Economics Association 2014 Meetings at Simon Fraser University Mevlude Akbulut, Mutlu Yuksel, and Melanie Khamis (Wesleyan University) were awarded the W.E. Upjohn Institute Early Career Research Grant for their project, “Family Policies and Female Labor Market Outcomes From Social Security Records.”

On March 11, 2014, Talan Iscan participated in the Nova Scotia Budget: Economic Forecast Challenge and Review. These discussions are preliminary to the 2014-15 NS Budget and the session is an important event where economists from Nova Scotia work together to chart a path for a stronger Nova Scotian economy.

In March 2014, Courtney Ward was interviewed by CTV about a new vaccine study. Dr. Ward’s recent paper, published in the AEJ: Applied, looks at the effects of expanding vaccination recommendations, finding that increased coverage across the entire population means that the infection rate can fall by as much as 92 percent.

Andrea Giusto and Yulia Kotlyarova are recipients of the Department of Economics Award for Excellence in Teaching for the Academic Year 2013-14.

SPHERE (Social Policy Health and Research Unit) hosted the following seminars in the fall: “Aggregating savings and public provision of health insurance: The case of South Korea” (Mook Lim, PhD Candidate); “Is there a relationship between security and body mass for Canadian Adults? A natural experiment approach” (Barry Watson, PhD Candidate); and “How does a hard manual labour experience during youth affect life later? The long-term impact of the send-down program during the Chinese cultural revolution” (Weina Zhou, Assistant Professor).

The Curriculum Committees of the Faculties of Science and Graduate Studies have approved these new courses: Econ 3111 (Writing in Economics), Econ 4700 (Advanced Mathematics for Economists); Econ 4440 (Time Series in Economics) and Econ 5800 (Graduate Financial Economics). Econ 5800 were offered in January 2014 (co-taught by Professors Maria Pacurar (Management), Kuan Xu (Economics) and Yonggan Zhao (Management). The other courses will be offered in the 2014-15 academic year.

The Department has determined that a research essay is more beneficial to the majority of MA students than a thesis. This modification will bring the program in line with the norm of MA economics programs in Canada. Modifications to the MDE program include: a) making non- economics classes an option rather than a requirement; b) reducing the number of classes required for the two-year program; c) increasing preparation in econometrics and its applications; d) removing the research essay requirement while retaining the thesis option. These minor modifications to the MA and MDE programs have been approved by the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

News from MED

To promote research in macroeconomics and economic development, the Department formed another research unit: Macroeconomics and Economic Development unit (MED) in addition to SPHERE. The unit has been organizing weekly meetings every Tuesday from 11:30 to 12:30 at Mona Campbell 3011 since mid-September 2013. The meetings represent a structured forum for graduate students writing theses in macroeconomics and economic development to present their research, and faculty members in these fields to present their preliminary and ongoing work. The meetings have been punctuated by lively debates and engaging discussions. All faculty and students are welcome to attend.

China Project News

In May 2013 we had eighteen students from SDUFE and four students from Renmin who

graduated at the Spring Convocation. From SDUFE, ten graduated with an honours degree and amongst them, six were with first-class honours and six received combined major degree. Sixteen of the 22 graduates are currently enrolled in master programs at various universities in Canada, the UK and Australia. Three SDUFE students and three Renmin students graduated at the Fall Convocation.

Forty-three students from Shandong University of Finance and Economics (SDUFE) and eleven students from Renmin University of China (RUC) arrived in Halifax to begin the Canadian portion of their 2+2 programs in Economics in September 2013. Another five students arrived in Halifax but will not commence their academic courses until they have successfully completed a full-time English program at CCE. In 2012, we had 30 students from SDUFE and nine from RUC, all of whom are now in their second year at Dal. In additional, four students from previous years are still completing their programs. Putting all of them together, we now have 102 China program students studying at Dalhousie in the 2013-14 academic year.

In September, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Chris Moore, and Program Director, Barry Lesser, visited China. They attended opening ceremonies for the freshman class at Renmin University and at Shandong University of Finance and Economics.

In November, Barry Lesser and Shannon Peng visited China and met with students interested coming to Dalhousie for the 2014-15 academic year. They met with SDUFE students in Jinan and then met with Renmin students in Beijing. A meeting with students from UIBE interested in the exchange program also took place.

Other events:

The Dalhousie University Summer Institute was held again last summer. Hosted by the Faculty of Science, the course “The Science and Economics of Climate Change” was offered, taught by Prof. Ruth Forsdyke from Economics and Prof. Glen Lesins from Physics and Atmospheric Science. Five students came from China to participate in the program, joining a class of 16 Dalhousie students, several of whom were Joint Program students. As part of the course, the students visited the Dalhousie Mountain Wind Turbine Farm, the Tufts Cove Energy Generation Plant and the Truro campus (Faculty of Agriculture). The course also included several social events: a lobster boil party at Point Pleasant Park, a visit to the Buskers Festival, Natal Day parade and fireworks, and a ride on the Metro Ferry.

Daniel de Munnik (Dalhousie) and Swapan Dasgupta (Dalhousie) were at SDUFE to teach Intermediate Microeconomics and Macroeconomics in May-June, 2013. Paul Hobson (Acadia) spent the fall 2013 semester at SDUFE teaching courses in public finance and urban economics.

Barry Lesser also spent time teaching at SDUFE in both the spring and fall of 2013. He taught Regional Economics for the 2nd year students, Regional Economics for the 3rd year students, and International Finance for the 3rd year students from February to May 2013. In fall 2013, he taught both Topics in International Trade and Topics in International Development for the 4th year students.

Baoqi Chen, faculty member and deputy dean of the School of Economics at SDUFE, is the 2013 Faculty Leave Fellowship recipient from SDUFE. He arrived in Halifax in September 2013 and will stay until April 2014. The 2013 Fellowship recipients, Yali Zhang and Li Wang, returned to China in June and September 2013.

He Zhang, Mianda Lu, Mengdi Zhu, and Chang Tian from UIBE spent the fall 2013 semester at Dalhousie with the Dalhousie- UIBE Exchange Program. He Zhang will also remain at Dalhousie for the second semester. Three of the four students have been supported by the China Scholarship Council during their time at Dalhousie.

Twelve students in the China Program were recipients of a Professor W. Russell Maxwell Memorial Scholarship Award for 2013/14. The recipients are Lian Long Li, Qin Man Li, Yu Yun Li, Ling Chen Meng, Lianwei Shan, Yu Song, Yujiao Song, Xin Pei Sun, Pengyu Wang, Ziyu Wang, Wen Hui Zhang, and Mengying Zhu.

The SDUFE-DAL Joint Program Scholarship recipients have been chosen for the 2013- 14 year. These awards go to fourth-year students based on their GPA in the first year of study at Dalhousie. Recipients for 2013-14 are Lianlong Li, Qinman Li, Zequn Li, Yingrui Liu, Lingchen Meng, Jingjing Qi, Wenxin Qin, Lianwei Shan, Yu Song, Yujiao Song, Haokun Sun, Xinpei Sun, Pengyu Wang, Lulu Xie, Wenhui Zhang, and Mengying Zhu.

Jacob Parents, Sam Stub, and Brian Morrison are expected to go to UIBE in 2014 for the UIBE spring semester under the exchange program with UIBE. All three are Economics majors at Dalhousie.

Many social events have taken place in the past few months:

-    September 2013 - A Mentor Program BBQ kick-off event was held at which mentors and mentees were introduced to each other. This year we have six non- Chinese mentors and six Chinese mentor advisors. Chinese Mentor advisors are 2+2 students from the 2012/13 year. They are grouped with the non-Chinese mentors to provide additional support to non-Chinese mentors.

-     October 2013 – Halloween Haunted House and Pumpkin Carving: With the help of DUESA, one of the Economics buildings was transformed into a haunted house. For many of the 2+2 students, this was their first time celebrating Halloween. They enjoyed the pumpkin carving and the spooky haunted house.

December 2013 – A Christmas Party organized by the China Program, for students, faculty, and staff of the Department of Economics on the evening of December 16.

Student News

Best wishes to the following students who received their degrees  at  the  October  2013 Convocation Ceremonies: MA: Qiaojie Chen, Lin Lu, Syed Mahmood, Zongming Ma, Maryia Zhdanava; MDE: Qi Chen, Chris Debow, Ricky Jean-Baptiste, Matt Vaulkhard; and PhD: Sarah (MacPhee) Miller.

Zachary Chartier, Victoria Joy-Warren, Lian Long Li, Qin Man Li, Yu Yun Li, Justin Mayne, Ling Chen Meng, Thomas Minshull, Stefan Phipps-Burton, Katherine Ryan, Lianwei Shan, Yu Song, Andreas Straathof, Xin Pei Sun, Leonie van Haeren, Pengyu Wang, Ziyu Wang, Wen Hui Zhang, Mengying Zhu, Yujiao Song are recipients of a Professor W. Russell Maxwell Memorial Scholarship Award for 2013-14. This scholarship is given to final-year honours students based on their academic performance.

Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA) has awarded Stephanie Maillet (MDE candidate) an opportunity to travel to Ireland. Stephanie will be researching European perspectives on the economic impacts and feasibility of tidal energy development at Trinity College in Dublin.

Best wishes to the following students who received their degrees at the May 2013 Convocation Ceremonies: MA: Chenze Lin, Cong Lin, Qiumei Lin, Syed Nadeem, Moses Odugbemi, Peiyao Shang, Yang Wang Hamza Zahid and MDE: Kevin Linklater.

Peng Fei Li was awarded the University Medal in Economics at May’s convocation ceremony. The University Medal is awarded to an Honour’s graduate in recognition of superior achievement in his/her field of study. One medal is awarded per department.

Wenshuang Yu (MA) is this year’s recipient of the U.L.G. Rao Memorial Prize in Economics. The prize is awarded to a Master’s student with the highest GPA in MA core classes.

Mico Schwartzentruber (MA) and Paul Spin (PhD) were named recipients of the Economics Teaching Assistant Award for academic year 2012-13. The award was established to celebrate the invaluable contribution of teaching assistants to the economics student experience. Specifically, recognition will be given annually to an outstanding TA who inspires students and demonstrates excellence in his or her TA duties.

The Department hosted a reception for graduates following the May 23, 2013 convocation ceremony.

Here’s a list of our undergraduate prizes and prize recipients for academic year 2012-13 (including recipient names):

Principles of Economics Prize - Ahmed Al- Alimi (BA). This prize is awarded to the undergraduate Economics major with the highest combined average in the Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 1101) and Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 1102) sequence of courses.

Economic Theory Prize - Shannon Clamp (BSc). The prize is awarded to the undergraduate Economics major with the highest combined average in the Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 2200 or 2220) and Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECON 2201) sequence of courses.

Econometrics Prize - Justin Mayne (BSc). The prize is awarded to the undergraduate Economics major with the highest combined average in the Econometrics I (ECON 3338) and Econometrics II (ECON 3339) sequence of courses.

Economics Honours Thesis Prize - Greg Walsh (BSc Honours) is this year's recipient of the Economics Honours Thesis Prize for his paper entitled "Quality Over Quantity: A Study of Quarterback Performance and Salary Determinants in the Modern NFL.” The Economics Honours Thesis Prize is awarded to the Honours student with the best honours thesis, as determined by the Selection Committee.

Congratulations to William Buckley who was awarded SSHRC’s 2013 Joseph- Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Program - Master’s Scholarships. This program offers non- renewable, 12-month awards to students intending to pursue full-time studies at the master’s level in a discipline supported by SSHRC.

Anonymous Prize - Andreas Straathof (BSc) has been awarded the Anonymous Prize in Economics. The prize is awarded to an Economics student or students, not in their last year, "who has (have) shown through an essay outstanding promise of successfully applying economics to the solution of human problems." Straathof was nominated by his Econometrics (Econ 3338) professor, Courtney Ward, for his paper entitled: “Using Oil Prizes to Forecast Canadian GDP Growth.”

Sarah (MacPhee) Miller (PhD) successfully passed the oral defence of her PhD thesis entitled “Birth Weight and Human Capital Outcomes in the Early Years.” The defence was held on April 26, 2013. Sarah’s examining committee included: (Simon Fraser University), External Examiner, Peter Burton, Shelley Phipps and Courtney Ward (co-supervisors), and Kuan Xu(departmental representative).

Angela Daley (PhD) and Barry Watson (PhD) received a travel grant from the Faculty of Graduate Studies to attend the Atlantic Canada Economics Association Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland on October 18-20, 2013.

Aaron Wolf (BSc Econ/IDS) was named as one of the recipients of The Governors’ Awards for 2013. The Governors’ Awards are the top student awards at Dalhousie University. They recognize students who contribute to the quality and vitality of the university and the achievement of its mission, through both their academic accomplishments and their involvement in campus life. Up to four awards each year are awarded for exceptional contributions or leadership in such areas as university governance, development of a sense of community on campus, community service, internationalizing the campus, visual or performing arts, minority access, or athletics, while maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or above. Aaron serves as VP-External on the DUESA Executive for 2013-14.

Aaron Wolf (BSc Econ/IDS) has been selected as recipient of the W. Andrew MacKay Alumni Scholarship for the 2013- 2014 academic year. The annual scholarship was established by the Dalhousie Alumni Association in honour of Dr. W.A. MacKay, a former Dalhousie president. The scholarships are available to students who have demonstrated high academic standing (GPA of at least 3.30) and who have shown an excellence in qualities of leadership, citizenship, and sportsmanship. The selection committee was particularly impressed by Aaron’s commendable academic record and demonstrated leadership role in a wide variety of extracurricular activities.

Lingyun Wu (MA) has been awarded a Faculty of Graduate Studies International Differential Fee Scholarship for 2013-14. This new scholarship has been established to assist international graduate students offset the cost of their studies and is awarded on the basis of academic excellence over the last two years of study. The scholarship will be awarded annually to seven full-time international graduate studies.

Number of graduate students in 2013-14: PhD - 8; MA - 29; MDE - 13, Qualifying Year - 6, Visiting Graduate Student - 1.

Number of undergraduate majors and honours students in 2013-14: BA - 75 and BSc - 195.

Field Trip for Environmental Economics class

When taking the Environmental Economics (Econ 3335) class in the summer, Dal students typically investigate the interactions between the environment and the economy. They learn to apply economic tools to analyze the causes and effects of environmental degradation of water, air, and waste, in particular, and examine the different policies that can and have been used to improve environmental quality. This year, students enrolled in the course were able to see for themselves and learn the ins and outs of Halifax waste management. On Monday, May 27, the class visited the recycling facility located in Bayer’s Lake. There, they were greeted by Diana Saunders, solid waste education officer, who gave them a tour of the facility, and explained in detail what and how much was recycled in HRM, as well as what became of the recycled material (corrugated paper, aluminum cans, glass jars, plastics, and organic waste). Afterward, they were able to get a glimpse of the Otter Lake landfill facility, which opened in 1999. There, they learned about the energy produced by landfill gas, and were quite surprised to see hills and green grass, and even deer grazing, where they were expecting mountains of garbage.

Alumni Update

Mary Kilfoil (PhD, 1998 and sessional instructor in Economics) has launched a new  course  “Innovation:  A  Practical  A p proach to Concepts and Implementation” (CSCI 4190). This course is one of several pilot projects across campus to receive funding from DALVision Academic Innovation initiative this past year. Undergrads from all Dal faculties will have the chance to learn how to start bringing their “light-bulb” moments to life. Students will learn within a creative, team- based environment, how to employ their unique perceptions and skills in order to develop ideas and cultivate innovation. Course activities are highly interactive and thought provoking, involving team exercises to reinforce creativity and innovation techniques taught.

Jamie Charlebois (MDE 2012) is currently working as an International Microfinance and Microenterprise Fellow through the Aga Khan Foundation Canada with CARE Bangladesh on CARE’s flagship agricultural value chain project: Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain (SDVC). The project aims to increase the income of small-scale dairy farmers by increasing their access to quality inputs (such as nutritious cow feed) and training while simultaneously linking them to a well established dairy company (BRAC Dairy) who gives them a higher fat-based price for their milk. The project uses a facilitative approach; the goal is that when CARE eventually leaves the communities, the market linkages they helped to create will remain in place. SDVC is funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the vast majority of the beneficiaries are women.

Jamie Charlebois, and a group of MDE alumni, have recently published a book entitled First Forays in International Development: Instructive Experiences from Seven Young Professionals. This unique book assembles the practical experiences and lessons learned by young development practitioners working in Asia, Africa, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Presented here are firsthand accounts reflecting candidly (and critically) on their experiences working in a wide cross section of development organizations. These accounts provide insights on what makes a successful development project and, at the same time, a successful development practitioner. Such lessons will prove to be of great practical use to both prospective interns and the organizations that host them. The book is available at Amazon.com.

Daniel de Munnik (BSc Hons., 2002) was appointed Principle Researcher of the Canadian Economic Analysis (CEA) Department’s Canadian Projection and Policy Analysis Division in September 2013. In this capacity, he is responsible for forecasting/nowcasting Canadian real GDP in the short run. Daniel joined the Bank in 2003 as an Economist in the Regional Analysis Division’s Atlantic Regional Office (CEA). In 2010, he joined the Canadian Projection and Policy Analysis Division’s monitoring team. His research efforts have been related to Canadian international trade, labour market dynamics (migration), and business conditions survey design. In addition to his work at the Bank, Daniel has been an Instructor for the Economics Department at Dalhousie University (Halifax) since 2006. Daniel has a master’s degree in economics from McMaster University.

Vikram Rai (BSc Hons Econ/Math 2011) has accepted an Economist position in the Global Issues Division in the International Economic Analysis Department of the Bank of Canada.

Zhe (Jerry) Ren (PhD, 2011) and Aricy Pan are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Melanie, born May 17, 2013. Sarah (MacPhee) Miller (PhD 2013) and Kevin Miller are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Emma, who was born only a few days after the defence of Sarah’s thesis in late April. Kodjo Efu (MDE 2012) and Ifeatu Nwafornso (MDE 2009) became proud parents on July 26, 2013, with the birth of their daughter, Zikora.

Gerard Walsh (BSc, 2010) has published his honour thesis entitled "Sector Shifts and Canadian Unemployment: 1991- 2009" in Just@Dal, Journal of Undergraduate Science Today at Dalhousie, Volume 2, 23-32. In his paper, Walsh finds that inter-sectoral shifts of labour did not meaningfully affect the unemployment rate over the period of 1991-2009. Significance in other structural factors suggests that if lower unemployment rates are to be achieved, closer attention must be paid to labour market institutions. Congratulations, Gerard!

ECON MATTERS is published by the Department of Economics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2. Inquiries and suggestions for future issues may be sent to economics@dal.ca.