Dan McGee joined the Department of Economics on 1 July 2025. The department welcomes the new assistant professor fresh from a post-doctoral position at Monash University in Australia. A recent Princeton graduate, Professor McGee has diverse research interests that span behavioural economics, economic theory, political economy, and economic history. His initial appointment is for three years.
“I am particularly interested in questions around discrimination, stereotyping, and ideology,” MeGee said. “In recent work, I studied implicit bias, arguing that implicit bias emerges from bounded rationality and imperfect memory, and in some ongoing projects, I’m expanding a theory of strategic discrimination to understand the processes through which discriminatory behaviour can create advantages for certain individuals at others’ expense, and I’m exploring the origins of beliefs in and preferences for or against hierarchical social arrangements as a foundation for political ideology.”
McGee was drawn to the University of Toronto by the diversity of research conducted by members of the Department of Economics and its strong reputation.
“In my time at the department, I hope to continue building on my research agenda studying the economic origins of discrimination and stereotyping, such as my work on the behavioural economics of race and racism,” he said. “I also hope to expand my work with fruitful collaborations with my new colleagues and to contribute to a vibrant department culture. Also, as a proud Ontarian, I’m looking forward to coming back to my home province!”
McGee is scheduled to teach the undergraduate courses ECO316, Applied Game Theory, and ECO331, Behavioural and Experimental Economics, in the upcoming semester. Students can expect McGee to encourage the development of their intuition as economists and their curiosity about how society functions.
“I see a class as a success when students feel empowered to use the tools we develop not just to answer the problems given to them on assignments and exams, but to come up with new ideas and take these tools with them into their life,” he explained. “Even when teaching a large class, I want students to feel that they can develop a personal connection with their classmates and instructor, and to come to see a course as a process of learning together, not as a transmission of information from an instructor to a passive audience.”
His approach to teaching incorporates the best qualities McGee acquired through his own educational journey.
“The two most valuable qualities I gained during my own education were a curiosity about the world around me, and an independent mindedness to keep searching for a satisfying answer to my questions, even in the face of opposition,” he said. “My goal as a teacher, for undergraduate and graduate students, and as a supervisor of junior researchers, is to help those starting to study economics to develop this same excited independence, so that they feel they have both the drive and the ability to find their own answers to society’s hard questions.”
Return to the Department of Economics website.
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