Social Policy, Health and Economics Research (SPHERE)

The Social Policy, Health and Economics Research Unit (SPHERE) is a group of scholars working collaboratively in the Department of Economics at Dalhousie University.

The aims of SPHERE are:

• To support research on the determinants of income, health and well-being of people in Canada and internationally
• To support research on the interaction of poverty, inequality, social and economic policy in relation to the determinants of income, health and well-being

Specifically, SPHERE emphasizes research on:

• The health and well-being of children
• Work-life balance
• Public policy and its impact on poverty, health, social exclusion, and social capital
• Social policies and economic incomes, in particular from an international comparative analysis perspective

The principal faculty from economics involved in SPHERE are Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel, Peter Burton, Teresa Cyrus, Lars Osberg, Shelley Phipps, Courtney Ward, Casey Warman, Kuan Xu, Mutlu Yuksel, and Weina Zhou.  PhD students include Nancy Kong, and Paul Spin, and recently completed PhDs, Angela Daley, Barry Watson, Sarah MacPhee, and Kelly Chen.