Archived Events

Western Undergraduate Economics Review is pleased to announce the appointment of Emanuel Marcu and Jerry Lao as the editors of the 2010 issue. Now in its ninth year, the WUER showcases some of the finest work of our students. For submission information please visit the WUER website.

Professor John Whalley is contributing a weekly Comment for Alrroya.com, a business information portal, offering industry professionals and decision-makers an on-line information source for current news and events happening across the Middle East and internationally. Professor Whalley’s latest article, "Could Stiglitz be Right Over Poor Prospects for 2010?" was posted January 4th.

Professor Emeritus Michael Parkin received the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Leicester, Friday, January 22nd, 2010. Professor Parkin studied economics at Leicester from 1960-1963 and held appointments at the Universities of Sheffield, Leicester, Essex and Manchester before joining the Economics Department at UWO in 1975. In addition to his visiting appointments at Brown, Stanford and the Hoover Institution in the U.S., Professor Parkin has also held visiting posts in Australia, New Zealand, India and Japan. He is the author of Economics and Foundations of Economics, two of the best-selling introductory texts in economics that are published in dozens of editions and languages around the world, and has published over 160 journal articles and edited volumes. Professor Parkin still teaches a very popular introductory economics course, Principles of Microeconomics, here at Western.

On Friday, February 26, 2010 the Bank of Canada announced that Tiff Macklem (Western Economics Ph.D., 1989), currently Senior Associate Deputy Minister at the Department of Finance, will take on the role of Senior Deputy Governor at the Bank. The appointment begins on or about July 1, 2010 — at the conclusion of the G20 leaders’ summit in Toronto. A recent article in the Financial Post characterizes Tiff’s new position as that of the central bank’s 'chief operating officer', and the second-most senior policy maker on its key governing council.

Professor George A. Akerlof,  the 2001 Nobel Laureate in Economics and the Koshland Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, delivered the 2010 Beattie Family Lecture in Business Law entitled "Identity Economics" on Monday, March 22 in the Faculty of Law.

Akerlof is the co-author of Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being published by Princeton University Press.

Major-General Peter J. Devlin of the Canadian Forces has been promoted to Lieutenant General and named Chief of Land Staff at National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. General Devlin graduated from Western in 1982 with an Honors BA in Economics. Lt.-General Devlin has served as Deputy Commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command since August, 2008.

Todd Stinebrickner has been named a Social Science Faculty Scholar Award winner for 2010. The award recognizes faculty members for their achievements in both teaching and research. Todd will hold the Faculty Scholar title for two years. Congratulations, Todd.

The Department of Economics is pleased to announce that Des McKeon has been nominated (second year in a row), as "Undergraduate Professor of the Year".

Martijn van Hasselt has been nominated by graduate students as "Graduate Professor of the Year".

In addition, Ke Xian Au Yong has been selected as the "Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year" and Mark Sheeley and James Partridge, "Tutorial Leaders of the Year".

As of May, 10, 2010, Economics 1022B sections 002 and 004 (Instructor Jeannie Gillmore), have raised $1,174 for the Bwindi Community Hospital in Uganda. The money will be used to purchase children’s mosquito nets. Fundraising was under the direction of first-year student Conor Coyle, a committed volunteer who has donated his time in the past to help at the hospital.

Professor Emeritus David Laidler has been unanimously elected as an Honorary Member of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET), in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research and teaching in the area. Professor Laidler is only the 15th individual accorded this honour since 2001.

Congratulations to our colleague Ben Lester, who was one of four faculty members awarded the USC’s Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. Ben also received a provincial award for excellence in teaching from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, which he picked up at the Partner' in Higher Education Dinner on March 31st at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto.

On March 26, 2010, Professor Tang Wei, Vice President of Beijing Normal University, China, presented John Whalley with a certificate, awarding him an "Honorary Professorship" at BNU. To conclude the ceremony, Professor Whalley presented a paper entitled “Fisher and Keynes on the G20 and Possible Global Responses to the Financial Crisis".

An e-book published by the C.D. Howe Institute, edited by Professor Emeritus David Laidler and featuring chapters by both David Laidler (with Robin Banerjee) and Michael Parkin, examines whether, and if so how, Canadians could improve the framework for Bank of Canada policy when the current inflation targeting program expires in 2011. The book is available online at the C.D. Howe website.

For his paper on "Human Capital Specificity: Evidence from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Displaced Worker Surveys 1984-2000" (2008), co-authored with Maxim Poletaev, Chris Robinson was awarded the 2008/2009 H. Gregg Lewis Prize at the Fifteenth Annual Meetings of the EALE/SOLE (European Association of Labour Economists/Society of Labor Economists) Conference at University College London on June 19, 2010. H. Gregg Lewis (1914-1992) was among the founders of modern labour economics and established this award, which recognizes the best article published in the Journal of Labor Economics over a two-year period.

John Whalley has been selected as one of 200 lead authors from around the world to participate in the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scheduled for release in 2014.

Whalley, Director of the Centre for the Study of International Economic Relations, will be involved on the chapter relating to Regional Development and Cooperation. There will be 13 other authors also contributing to the same chapter, with each to draft approximately 15 pages.

Whalley, one of only five Canadians selected, will attend yearly authors' meetings - beginning next May - and continuing to 2014. [Article from Communications Staff, UWO.]

The Department of Economics congratulates Ben Lester, who has been named the next holder of the Bank of Montreal Professorship, for the period July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015. This Professorship was created through a generous gift to the University from the Bank of Montreal, and is rotated every five years between Economics and the Richard Ivey School of Business.

China's increasing influence in the global economy is the focus of The University of Western Ontario China Research and Policy Group, which was officially launched yesterday (Aug. 11) in the Faculty of Social Science. [Article from Communications Staff, UWO.]

On August 31, 2010, Jim MacGee, author of a recent study released by the C.D. Howe Institute, "Not Here? Housing Market Policy and the Risk of a Housing Bust," was quoted in the Globe and Mail, and appeared on CBC's Lang & O'Leary Exchange program discussing concerns about a possible U.S.-style housing bust in Canada due to swings in the Canadian housing market. Jim’s recent research interests also include using stochastic life-cycle models to disentangle what factors account for the significant increase in unsecured consumer borrowing and personal bankruptcies in Canada and the United States over the past 30 years.

Ben Lester has been named one of five John Charles Polanyi Prize winners for 2010.

These prizes were first awarded by the Ontario government in 1987, in honour of the achievement of Dr. John Charles Polanyi who received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Polanyi Prize recognizes the excellence and potential of Lester’s research in Economics.

The prize, valued at $20,000, is awarded to five outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career and who are continuing post-doctoral studies at an Ontario university.

An awards ceremony will be held in Toronto in November.

In time for this year’s Homecoming event, Western’s Economics Department has launched its new website, the Alumni Portal, a virtual meeting place at which Economics alumni, faculty, senior students and invited friends can engage in online conversation, share news and stay in touch. Along with regular postings of news and special events and a Weekly Friday Update at the Bar, this site will also post periodic interviews with alumni regarding their careers and other experiences since leaving Western.

Russell Boyer has been appointed as one of the nine 2010-2011 Visiting Fellows in the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago. He will be at the Institute for six days during the period October 26 to November 4.

Charles Zheng has been selected to be the first recipient of the Christopher J. Grimes Faculty Fellowship in Microeconomic Theory. Charles Zheng, who is a specialist in auction theory, was recruited to Western in July 2010.

The fellowship, valued at $15,000/year, supports Western Economics' mission to provide the best undergraduate and graduate education in economics in Canada, while also producing research of the highest quality. Zheng’s fellowship appointment is for five years.

Philip Chow (shown far right), currently an Honors Economics student at Western, is engaging in discussions with some of the world’s most powerful Heads of State and Chief Executive Officers at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit running November 8-14, 2010, in Tokyo Japan. Chow competed nationally through Global Vision to represent Canada. Along with three other young Canadians, he will be promoting Canadian industry and encouraging greater inward foreign direct investment to Canada. Along with his many other talents, Chow is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Japanese. By the age of 23, he has worked and studied in 19 countries.  Also standing with Chow (left to right) are Gabrielle Scrimshaw, Marianne den Hann, Terry Clifford, Ambassador T. Fried and Jackie Cook.

Left to right: Matthew Cassar, VP Events (ESA), Sean Benjaimal, VP Finance (ESA), Dr. Munir Sheikh, Former Chief Statistician of Canada, Michael Egden, President (ESA) and Professor Audra J. Bowlus (Chair, Western Economics).

Dr. Munir Sheikh, former Chief Statistician of Canada and 1973 Western Ph.D. Economics graduate, visited the Department of Economics on Friday, November 12, 2010. Dr. Sheikh presented a talk, co-hosted by the Economic Students’ Association (ESA) and the Department of Economics, entitled "Census of Canada: Some Facts and Recent Developments" regarding the recent developments and implications concerning the Census and the government’s controversial decisions to end the Canada 2011 long form and no longer require mandatory completion of the short form.

On Saturday, November 13, 2010, Dr. Sheikh was introduced by Economics Professor Jim Davies as the Keynote Speaker for the School of Graduate and Post Doctoral Studies’ conference: Put It Into Practice Conference: Finding An Application For Your Research in the World Beyond Academia. Dr. Munir Sheikh was recently interviewed for the first Feature Story appearing in Western Economics’ new Alumni Portal.

Terry Sicular, along with her co-authors Li Shi and Björn Gustafsson, have received the prestigious Chinese Zhang Peigang Award for Outstanding Achivement in Development Economics for their recent book (in Chinese), Research on the Distribution of Income in China III ((中国居民收入分配研究 III), Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 2008.

Jeannie Gillmore was recognized in a Western News article (December 16, 2010) for her unique method of involving students in a contest to show off their introductory economics knowledge. Students incorporated lyrics to the William Tell Overture and submitted YouTube videos to be judged and awarded a prize, which this year, were iPads donated from Pearson Education Canada. To launch the competition’s showing of finalists, Jeannie Gillmore played the famous tune, accompanied by a fellow friend and music colleague. Members of Group 60 (Kara Gabriel, Tyler Benning, Julie Flesch and Alexa Sturm) were this year's winner.

Professor Todd Stinebrickner has been appointed as our W. Glenn Campbell Faculty Research Fellow for a five year term. Todd's research focuses on labour economics, education economics, applied econometrics and health and retirement.

The Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada announced the appointment of Timothy D. Lane (1983 Western Ph.D. Economics graduate) as Deputy Governor and member of the Governing Council of the Bank, effective 18 February, 2009. Mr. Lane joined the Bank as Adviser to the Governor in August 2008.

Previously, Mr. Lane held positions with the IMF, including Senior Advisor in the Research Department (2006-2008) and has taught at the University of Iowa and Michigan State University. According to the Bank of Canada, "Mr. Lane brings a breadth of recognized policy, economics and management credentials and extensive international experience to the Bank’s decision-making processes."

The Western Undergraduate Economics Review is an annual publication containing articles written by Western undergraduate Economics students. First published in 2002, the Review reflects the academic distinction and creativity of the Economics Department at Western and showcases some of the finest work of our students.

On March 19th, 2009, The Bank of Canada announced that Professor David Andolfatto, 1994 Western Ph.D. graduate (currently at Simon Fraser University), is the recipient of the Bank's Research Fellowship for 2009.

Professor Andolfatto is known for his work on business cycle theory, labour market policy, and the theory of money and banking. His current research focuses on bank sector stability and policies designed to avert major financial crises.

Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada stated that "Professor Andolfatto's outstanding work contributes to excellence in monetary policy research in this country. The Bank is delighted to recognize such a valuable contributor to this field."

Gervan Fearon (1999 Western Ph.D. Economics graduate), currently Associate Dean (Academics) at the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies at York University, has been appointed Dean of The Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University.

Dr. Alan Shepard, Provost and Vice President Academic at Ryerson writes that "I am delighted Dr. Fearon is joining Ryerson, bringing an extraordinary combination of talent, insight and experience from both inside the academy and beyond." The position is effective July 1, 2009.

Professor John Whalley has been named as one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Hellmuth Prize, named in honour of Bishop Isaac Hellmuth, founder of Western and awarded for outstanding achievements in research.

Professor Whalley joined the Economics Department at Western in 1976 and over 33 years has become internationally known for work in several diverse areas of economics. A founder of applied general equilibrium analysis in the 1970’s led to WTO issues, development strategies and tax policy. Recent work focuses on China, Russia, and climate change. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Foreign Fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He is a research associate of NBER (Cambridge, US), a Distinguished Fellow of CIGI, coordinator of the global economy area for CESifo (Germany) and the William G. Davis Professor of International Trade at the University of Western Ontario.

Abdurrahman Aydemir (Ph.D. 2003), currently at Sabanci University, Turkey, is the recipient of the 2009 Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) Outstanding Young Scientist Award. This prize is given to advance young exceptional scientists to establish their own research programs in Turkey. Abdurrahman also worked as a Senior Researcher at Statistics Canada 2001-2008.

The Department of Economics is pleased to announce the launch of a joint Department and Alumni fundraising initiative – The Western Economics Fund. Coming soon - the Economics Alumni Portal, to include professional networking and e-recruiting facilities.

Congratulations  to the 2008/09 Teaching Award winners nominated from students enrolled in Economics, from left to right: Undergraduate Professor of the Year, Des McKeon; Graduate Professor of the Year, Peter Streufert; Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year, Lee Ferchoff; Graduate Tutorial Leader of the Year, Brent Millar.

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus David Laidler who has been awarded the 2009 Distinguished Fellowship of the History of Economics Society. The award was presented at the Society’s Annual Meeting held at the University of Colorado in Denver on June 28th, 2009. The honor celebrates Laidler’s lifetime study of the history of economics.

The Economics Students' Association, along with the Social Science Students' Council hosted Dr. Jayson Myers, President of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

Tiff Macklem, Associate Deputy Minister and G7 Deputy for Canada, Finance Canada (and Western Economics Ph.D., 1989), spoke on "The Global Financial Crisis: An Inside Perspective" Wednesday, November 18, 2009. This event was sponsored by the Office of the President, the Department of Economics and co-sponsored by the Economics Students’ Association.

The Teaching Assistants for Economics 1021A held a very successful Review Session before the final examination for first year economics students on December 10, 2009.  The cost of attendance was a charitable donation for the London Food Bank.

Professor James MacGee was recently interviewed on the Business News Network, as part of a discussion of the current situation in the Canadian and US housing markets.

You can also read a Commentary MacGee wrote on this issue while he was on Sabbatical Leave at the Cleveland Federal Reserve.

Lance Lochner, a faculty member in the Department of Economics and Fellow in the Department’s CIBC Centre for Human Capital and Productivity, has been appointed Associate Editor of the Journal of Human Capital, published quarterly by The University of Chicago Press. Lance’s paper with Philippe Belley, a graduate student in our department — "The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement" — appears in the journal’s inaugural Volume 1, Number 1.

This year's CESifo Prize in Global Economy was awarded to our colleague, Hiro Kasahara. Hiro's paper, "Productivity and the Decision to Import and Export: Theory and Evidence," was presented at the Group's Annual Area Conference on the Global Economy held in Munich, 25-26 January 2008. Hiro has also become a Distinguished CESifo Affiliate "for the scientific originality, policy relevance and quality of exposition of his paper."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on February 15th, 2008 that Munir Sheikh (1973 Western Ph.D. Economics graduate), has been appointed Chief Statistician Designate effective March 3, 2008. Following the retirement of the present Chief Statistician, Mr. Ivan Fellegi, Sheikh will obtain Fellegi's post effective June 16th, 2008. Mr. Sheikh began his professional career in 1972 as an Economist at the Economic Council of Canada. Recently, he served as Deputy Minister of Labour and Associate Deputy Minister of Human Resources and Social Development.

Carson Sherwood, an Economics 400 Senior Seminar student at Western, was chosen as our top honors undergraduate (and, most notably, the only Canadian) to attend the 2008 Carroll Round, April 17-20, 2008. This yearly conference, held at Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), promotes discussion among undergraduate students from top schools in Canada, the U.S., Australia, Denmark, Germany and the U.K. Participants interact with eminent economists, discussing their research in international economics, and may have their work published in the Carroll Round Proceedings.

The Department of Economics hosted a CIGI/UWO Research Workshop on April 25, 2008 on The Changing Global Economy. Sponsored by CIGI (The Centre for International Governance Innovation), this one-day conference provided a forum for established and junior scholars to present their research on international economics.

The annual UM-MSU-UWO (University of Michigan-Michigan State-University of Western Ontario) Labour Day Conference was hosted by the Department of Economics on May 16, 2008. This one-day conference in Labour Economics maintains links between Labour Economic research groups and promotes the work of faculty and graduate students, especially students preparing for the job market. Rotating yearly between the three departments, this conference allows one faculty member and one graduate student from each university to present a paper.

The Department of Economics congratulates Todd Stinebrickner, this year’s winner of the Kenneth J. Arrow Prize in Economic Analysis and Policy. His paper, co-authored with Ralph Stinebrickner (Berea College), "The Causal Effect of Studying on Academic Performance," has been published in Frontiers, the highest quality tier of the B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy. The Arrow Prizes in Economics are named in honor of Kenneth J. Arrow who shared the Nobel Prize in 1972 for his pioneering contributions to general equilibrium and welfare theories.

Doug Porter, a graduate of our Masters program (1984) has been recently appointed (October 16/08) as a new member of the C.D. Howe Institute’s prestigious Monetary Policy Council (MPC). Currently, Mr. Porter is Managing Director and Deputy Chief Economist, BMO Capital Markets. According to William Robson, president and CEO of the Institute, "His recent work on the behavior and measurement of Canadian inflation, and on price levels in Canada and the United States highlights his expertise in matters critical to monetary policy."

During Western’s 2008 Homecoming, the Department of Economics saluted the distinguished career paths of various graduates from 1971 to 2007 identifying their current affiliations. In addition, photos of several current faculty, with brief synopses of their research interests were presented. Senior faculty met with alumni visiting the Social Science Centre.

Professor Jim MacGee, Professor Emeritus David Laidler and Professor Nathan Sussman participated in a panel discussion, hosted by the Economics Department and the Economics Students' Association on October 30, 2008 on issues relating to the current financial crisis.

Economic Students’ Association co-presidents Matthew Ball and Anshul Ruparell, according to the Western News, have, with the help of others, accomplished "a slick new publication, an aggressive pursuit of major speakers [and a] strong marketing campaign." Membership two years ago struggled at 22. Today the club enjoys a membership of 550 across campus.

On Monday, November 3, 2008, the Department of Economics hosted its annual Reception to Recognize Academic Achievement for students enrolled in Economics.

The Economics Students’ Association hosted a speaking engagement with former Prime Minister, Paul Martin, November 26th in Alumni Hall. The event was free to all members of UWO and the London community. Mr Martin spoke about his life in politics, Canada’s role in global credit crisis, and the need for greater international co-operation during financial crises. A question and answer period followed.

With nearly 1,500 PDF downloads in 2008, "The Causal Effect of Studying on Academic Performance", by Todd R. Stinebrickner (with Ralph Stinebrickner, Berea College) is the most-downloaded article so far this year from the popular on-line journal, B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy. Professor Stinebrickner was also this year’s winner of the Kenneth J. Arrow Prize in Economic Analysis and Policy.

Tiff Macklem, a Western Economics Ph.D. graduate (1989) has been appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Finance, effective November 1, 2007. His experience in analysis of international economic and financial issues will serve him in his role as Canada's Finance Deputy at the G-7, G-20 and the Financial Stability Forum. Tiff was previously a Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada.

The Economics Department at Western welcomes Professor Nathan Sussman who was recently appointed Chair (2007-2012). Sussman, who earned his BA and MA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, is no stranger to Western's Economics Department. He began his career here as Assistant Professor (1991-95) and returned frequently as a Visiting Associate Professor over the past decade, teaching and studying economic history . He recently published a book on Financial Globalization at Oxford. In addition to his tenure at the Hebrew University, for which he served as Chair of their Economics Department from 2000-2003, Sussman has also been an integral part of Western's Social Science Business and Economic History Workshop and co-organized with Eona Karakacilli of the History Department, an international medieval economic history conference in 2005.

The 2006-07 Graduate Teaching Assistant award went to George Jia and the Graduate Professor of the Year award went to Martijn van Hasselt.

Colleagues and friends joined to celebrate the retirement of Joel Fried on April 19th, 2007.

An anonymous donor has provided UWO with a generous gift that will fund the creation of a Faculty Fellowship in Microeconomic Theory.

We are pleased to announce that Yvonne Adams, Coordinator of the Graduate Program, has been awarded the prestigious 2007 Western Award of Excellence. This award recognizes exceptional performance by University staff members.

Recent research on the rise in consumer bankruptcy by Igor Livshits and James MacGee of Western and Michelle Tertilt of Stanford is cited in the Jan 4th, 2007 edition of The Economist.

The Department of Economics congratulates Vadim Iaralov, an Economics Honors Specialization graduate, for winning the Governor General’s medal for 2007. This medal is given to the student graduating with the highest cumulative average at UWO. Vadim will enter the PhD program at Princeton University in the Fall.

Our colleague Ron Wintrobe was awarded the Duncan Black Prize for the best article published in the journal Public Choice in 2006, as chosen by its editors, for his article “Extremism, Suicide Terror and Authoritarianism".

Paul Klein and his co-authors, Vincenzo Quadrini of the University of Southern California and Jose-Victor Rios-Rull of the University of Pennsylvania, have been awarded the Arrow Prize by the Berkeley Electronic Press for their 2005 paper, "Optimal Time-Consistent Taxation with International Mobility of Capital"

On October 20, 2006 Western conferred an Honorary degree on François Bourguignon, who received his Ph.D. in Economics from Western in 1975. Dr. Bourguignon has had a distinguished career, and is now Chief Economist for the World Bank. The citation was read at the convocation ceremony.