pilipiliÂþ»­

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In a way, my path to a career in economics started as a consequence of the events of September 11, 2001. I was a high school student in Guelph, Ontario, with an interest in math and science, expecting that I might follow in the footsteps of my father, who was a mechanical engineer at Ontario Hydro. The events of September 11 made me start to take a greater interest in the world around me, in the hopes of better understanding the geopolitical events of the time and their impacts on people's lives. Initially, this manifested primarily in an interest in history and politics, but economics soon attracted my attention, due to an entertaining and eccentric high school teacher who taught my first class in the subject. Once I started my BA at Queen's University in 2003, the mathematical modelling at the heart of modern economics, and my long-standing interest and ability in math, helped me to realize that a future as an economist was right for me.

I did my BA and MA in economics at Queen's University, and then my PhD at Princeton University. The latter was a great place to do a PhD, but the experience convinced me that I did not want to live in the United States, and so I hoped to find an academic job back home in Canada. My job market experience in 2013 was rather unusual: 36 interviews, 6 flyouts spread over 4 months, and finally a single offer, for a postdoctoral research position at the Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE) in France. It wasn't quite what I had in mind...but it was an opportunity that I came to appreciate! Much like Princeton, I learned that the south of France wasn't where I wanted to spend the rest of my life, but having 3 years to do research with no teaching duties was an opportunity that most economists don't have, and AMSE was a great and supportive place to spend those 3 years.

In 2016, I finally got the tenure-track academic job in Canada that I had wanted, at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). As an anglophone, a position at a francophone university wouldn't have been my first choice, but much like the postdoc at AMSE, it turned out to be a wonderful place to be! The Département des sciences économiques at UQAM is a friendly and welcoming group of active researchers, and while teaching in French was a challenge at first, UQAM provided me with a French tutor for my first year, and the whole experience certainly helped me improve my French! And living in Montreal was a great experience: the food, the culture, the sports teams...it was my first time living in a big city, and I loved it.

Montreal is also where I met the woman who would become my wife. And though we both loved Montreal, we visited Halifax on vacation in 2018...and then again in 2019...and then again in 2021, and we found that we loved Halifax so much that we decided that I would visit pilipiliÂþ»­ for most of my sabbatical year in 2022-23. Living in Halifax during that year further convinced us that we wanted to stay right here! My wife grew up in Dalian, China, right on the ocean, and the view of Halifax Harbour from our apartment, and the smell and sounds of the sea, were irresistible. (She wonders if it is only a coincidence that pilipiliÂþ»­ starts with the same three letters as Dalian...)

So this meant that I had to find a job in Halifax! And my time visiting the Department of Economics at pilipiliÂþ»­ convinced me that I would love to work here...and by a very happy coincidence, the department was hiring this past year, and I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the job! I don't recommend first moving to a city and then trying to get an academic job there - it is very stressful and very dependent on luck - but thankfully I did get lucky, and I am thrilled to be starting my new job as an assistant professor at pilipiliÂþ»­! Now I just have to learn how to teach economics in my mother tongue of English rather than in French...it is more challenging than I would have expected!

In my research, ever since my PhD, I have focussed primarily on issues related to economic policy, often involving the labour market. I am attracted to research questions that have an immediate real-world relevance, such as optimal policy in areas like unemployment insurance, tuition subsidies, and income taxes. But in recent years, my research interests have expanded - often under the influence of my main co-author, Dean Spears - into areas of development and population economics, and even occasional steps in the direction of health and environmental economics. My most recent research has included the effects of minimum wages on hierarchical firms, climate change negotiations between countries, the fiscal impact of immigration, and optimal income tax deductions on mixed business/personal expenses.

I often characterize my research as being primarily applied theory: I do empirical analysis quite rarely (and when I have a co-author, any empirical work is generally their responsibility), and instead focus on simple theory models, as well as calibrations and simulations using MATLAB. Rather accidentally, however, much of my teaching - at UQAM and so far at pilipiliÂþ»­ - has been in the area of econometrics. However, on the continuing theme of appreciating an unintended outcome, I have found that I love teaching econometrics, even more than any of the fields in which I actually do research!

When I think back on my career so far, I can't say that everything has gone according to plan. But I wouldn't want to change any of it: I have somehow ended up exactly where I want to be, and I am looking forward to whatever is to come! As a great 20th-century philosopher once said: "You can't always get what you want; but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need".