Working Papers

Under Review

More Publications

. The Aggregate Productivity Effect of Labour and Capital Market Distortions in Canada. Revision Requested, Canadian Journal of Economics, 2020.

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Featured Publications

Canada’s inflation rate rose to generational highs in 2022. We explore this rapid surge. Using new methods and detailed household consumption data, we separately identify demand- and supply-driven price increases. We find the latter accounts for most of inflation’s rise-especially among energy-intensive and highly traded items. In addition, we find items with normally transitory price changes or those highly sensitive to interest rates account for nearly all the increase. Our work sheds important new light on recent inflation trends and illustrates new empirical methods that can add value to inflation monitoring efforts in Canada.
Canadian Public Policy, forthcoming, 2023

Federal transfers are a central but ever-changing feature of Canada’s federation. Despite early hopes that transfer arrangements were ‘a final and unalterable settlement’ of provincial demands, complex economic and political pressures forced successive governments to negotiate. To explore this history and Canada’s various transfer programs, I compile uniquely detailed data from Confederation to today. Explicit transfers to provincial governments are large, but more equally distributed today than throughout most of Canada’s history. I also propose a uniform methodology to quantify and analyze both explicit and implicit fiscal transfers. Overall, federal tax and spending activities redistribute just under 2 per cent of Canada’s GDP across provinces; but this too is less than any point in the past six decades. This data, analysis and brief historical review reveal why today’s transfer programs are designed as they are, what pressures they must withstand, and what future reforms might consider.
Canadian Tax Journal, 2019

We study how goods- and labor-market frictions affect aggregate labor productivity in China. Combining unique data with a general equilibrium model of internal and international trade, and migration across regions and sectors, we quantify the magnitude and consequences of trade and migration costs. The costs were high in 2000, but declined afterward. The decline accounts for 36% of the aggregate labor productivity growth between 2000 and 2005. Reductions in internal trade and migration costs are more important than reductions in external trade costs. Despite the decline, migration costs are still high and potential gains from further reform are large.
American Economic Review, 2019

Recent Publications

Academic Journals

More Publications

. Reforming Canada's federal health-care funding arrangements. Canadian Public Administration 66 (1): 28-44, March 2023, 2023.

Journal Website

. Fiscal Sustainability and Diverging Fortunes in Atlantic Canada. Atlantic Canada Economic Review 3 (1): 1-18, July 2022, 2022.

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. Book Review: The Art of Sharing by Mary Janigan. Essays in Economic and Business History 39, 246-247, 2022.

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. Fiscal Integration with Internal Trade: Quantifying the Effects of Equalizing Transfers. Canadian Journal of Economics 54(2): 522-556, May 2021, 2021.

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Recent & Upcoming Talks

More Talks

Alberta Chamber of Commerce
Mar 28, 2023 8:00 AM
York University
Nov 15, 2021 9:00 AM
Interprovincial Trade: The real barrier to post-COVID recovery?
Nov 9, 2021 10:00 AM
UC San Diego
Nov 4, 2021 9:00 AM
University of Victoria
Oct 29, 2021 3:00 PM
It's Debatable: Equalization Referendum
Oct 7, 2021 4:30 PM

Projects

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Alberta Economic Conditions Index

This project compiles monthly data from a variety of courses to estimate real-time economic conditions in Alberta. It closely follows, as much as the data allows, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index.

Finances of the Nation

The Finances of the Nation team consists of researchers, students, and tax professionals from across Canada.

Alberta's Fiscal Future

The Alberta’s Fiscal Future (AFF) project is a two-year research/public engagement initiative providing the public and policy makers with in-depth analyses of Alberta’s fiscal situation and policy options to address it.

Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Commission

An independent team of academic experts and policy practitioners from a variety of disciplines across the country to recommend practical reforms to the system of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Canada.

Teaching

A full list of courses is available here

Winter 2021 Semester:

  • PPOL 615: Public Finance (MPP)
  • MGST 611: Managerial Economics (EMBA)

Fall 2020 Semester:

  • ECON 201: Principles of Microeconoimcs
  • ECON 621: International Trade (MA/PhD)
  • MGST 611: Managerial Economics (EMBA)

Winter 2020 Semester:

  • ECON 759: Advanced Macroeconomics Theory (PhD)
  • MGST 611: Managerial Economics (EMBA)
  • PPOL 615: Public Finance (MPP)

Contact