News, People, Projects & Events – Page 23 – Everything Economics at the University of Toronto

Candidate Spotlight: Understanding Innovation and the Dynamic Allocation of Resources

November 20, 2023 By Murat Celik

Candidate Spotlight is a showcase of research by PhD students coming onto the job market from the Department of Economics, University of Toronto. Today’s post introduces Jie Fang whose job market paper entitled When are Patents Traded and Why: A Dynamic Structural Model of Drug Development and Patent Trading examines the role of patent trade and its impact on innovation outcomes and incentives in the pharmaceutical industry. Assistant Professor Murat Çelik, a member of Fang’s supervision committee, describes the paper and its contribution to the discipline.

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Candidate Spotlight: Use of Diverse Data Demonstrates Strong Technical Skills

November 13, 2023 By Victor Aguirregabiria

Candidate Spotlight is a showcase of research by PhD students coming onto the job market from the Department of Economics, University of Toronto. Today’s post introduces Paul Z. Han whose job market paper entitled Biased Learning, Dynamic Effort and Course Design, utilizes a behavioural model in the study of the economics of education. Professor Victor Aguirregabiria, a member of Han’s supervision committee describes the paper and its contribution to the discipline.

Paul Han specializes in structural econometrics, with a specific focus on dynamic structural models. His job market paper is in education economics where he investigates how certain aspects of student assessment in a university course influence students’ hours of study and their acquisition of knowledge.

His model assumes that students make decisions based on their expected utility, which considers the grades they aim to achieve, and the associated effort required. What sets Paul’s model apart is its recognition that, at the outset of the course, students may hold biased beliefs regarding the connection between study hours and grades, as well as their skills related to the course material. As the course unfolds, students update these beliefs in response to their test grades. Paul employs data from an undergraduate course at the University of Toronto to estimate his model. His dataset encompasses both objective data, including student attendance records and test results, and survey-generated information on students’ hours of study, as well as their elicited preferences and beliefs.

He ingeniously combines these diverse data sources to develop an identification approach that integrates revealed and elicited preferences and beliefs. Through his counterfactual analysis, he uncovers a significant positive influence of students’ biased perceptions about the benefits of studying hours on their effort and knowledge acquisition.

Conversely, on average, their skewed beliefs about their course-specific skills have a negative impact on their study hours. Furthermore, Paul’s findings indicate that the sign and magnitude of the effect on study hours of incorporating more frequent tests hinges on the relative speed at which students adjust their misconceptions about their skills compared to their misperceptions about the returns of hours of study. This paper demonstrates Paul’s strong technical skills.

Author: Victor Aguirregabiria is Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto. His most recent paper with Alessandro Iaria, and Senay Sokullu is Identification and Estimation of Demand Models with Endogenous Product Entry and Exit (August 28, 2023). Is is available at SSRN.

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Guangbin Jeremy Hong Wins Bank of Canada Award

November 7, 2023 By Kate Baggott

PhD Candidate Guangbin Jeremy Hong wrote the best Economics graduate student paper in Canada for 2023. That’s according to the Bank of Canada who gives the Graduate Student Research Paper Award to recognize promising graduate students in Economics or Finance.

“The Graduate Student Paper Award celebrates excellent research by students at universities in Canada, and Canadian students around the world. It recognizes research in areas that are of interest to the Bank and support its policy goals,” said BoC Deputy Governor Toni Gravelle. “And this year, we explored some fascinating ideas. The submissions covered a wide range of research areas, from spatial inequality to the clean energy transition to the at-times enigmatic behaviour of financial markets.”

The title of Hong’s award-winning paper is The Two-Sided Sorting of Workers and Firms: Implications for Spatial Inequality and Welfare.

“Jeremy’s job market paper studies how firms and workers co-locate across cities, and why it matters in terms of earnings inequality and location-based policies,” said Professor Kevin Lim, a member of Hong’s supervision committee. “The Bank of Canada has recognized that Guangbin Jeremy Hong’s scholarship is relevant and important to understanding economic conditions in Canada and around the world.”

Hong is in the final year of his PhD at the Department of Economics. The job market papers each doctoral candidate in the field produces is a chapter taken from their dissertations that highlights their original research, aptitudes, skills, and contributions to the literature.

“It’s so humbling to be recognized by the Bank of Canada for my job market paper,” said Hong. “My academic community here at the University of Toronto has helped me to grow as an economist and as a researcher and I would like to thank my supervision committee and my cohort of colleagues for their support.”

Award finalists are invited to a workshop at the Bank of Canada Annual Conference to engage with and receive feedback from a diverse group of researchers and policymakers.

“Members of the Department of Economics are thrilled that the Bank of Canada has recognized Guangbin Jeremy Hong’s paper. Discussion about where and why firms locate their operations, and where and why skilled workers live and work where they do, and its impact on everyone’s well-being, is central to understanding how the global economy now works, or should work,” said Professor Ettore Damiano, Department Chair. “Jeremy Hong’s research presents theory and empirical evidence which move this discussion forward.”

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Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

October 23, 2023 By Kate Baggott

The Forward Society (FOS) Lab, housed in the Department of Economics, is co-hosting its first inter-disciplinary event.

Bringing together social scientists, statistical scientists, computer scientists, and researchers who work in healthcare, education, and environmental sustainability, the workshop recognizes that we are in the midst of a rich and evolving data landscape. Statistical, econometric, and data science advancements all represent opportunities we can realize through collaboration between data scientists, experts in causal inference literature, and applied researchers.

The event will provide our diverse academic and research communities with the opportunity to strengthen connections between cutting-edge econometric tools and relevant economic questions addressing society’s’ most pressing concerns.

What: Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

When: November 10-11, 2023

How: In-person

Where: Data Sciences Institute, 10th floor Seminar room, 700 University Ave, Toronto

Why: Our academic communities acknowledge the need for sound, evidence-based policies. The event features keynote speakers who understand the empirical contexts, objectives, and challenges faced by policymakers. The planned presentations, covering diverse areas of interest, all have a focus on the innovative methodologies that are largely untapped by applied research, their potential, and recent projects and publications that bring these nescient methodologies into the foreground.

Who? Keynote speakers include Alberto Abadie, Professor of Economics and Associate Director of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society at MIT, and Elizabeth Halloran, Professor, Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington.

Co-sponsored with the Data Sciences Institute, the event is the result of a collaboration between Ismael Mourifié of the Department of Economics, Linbo Wang of the Departments of Statistical Sciences and of Computer Science, and FOS Co-Directors Gustavo Bobonis and Raji Jayaraman, both of the Department of Economics.

Click to register.

About the Forward Society Lab (FOS) :The Forward Society Lab (FOS) is a global lab that leverages data and state-of-the-art research methods to shine a light on the voices and experiences of marginalized people to help move society forward. FOS works in partnership with all levels of government, not-for-profits, NGOs, and social agencies to co-create, implement, and evaluate programs on a test scale to identify best practices and generate evidence to inform policies that improve lives. Housed in the Department of Economics, University of Toronto, FOS research affiliates develop their own international community partnerships and projects.

Considering an MA in Economics? Two Events for You

October 23, 2023 By Kate Baggott

Considering an MA in Economics? The MA in Economics program here at the University of Toronto is hosting an open house and you’re invited. We’re holding one virtual and one in-person event. Register below to join us.

MA Program Virtual Open House

When: November 10^th at 6PM ET

Where: Zoom

How: Register here.

MA Program In-Person Open House

November 17^th at 4PM ET

Where: TBD (register for updates)

How: Register here.

Why: Economic analysis expands how societies understand wealth, poverty, social privilege, and social justice. The Masters in Economics program here at the University of Toronto challenges students to grow their capacity to conduct economic analysis and their own understanding of how resources are allocated and their movement.

The MA program offers broad, research-focused training that goes beyond understanding finance. Students undergo rigourous training in economic data analysis, macroeconomics and public policy, industrial organization, international trade, labour, health, and development. Our faculty members are among the world’s leading experts in their fields, providing high-quality learning experience with exposure to cutting-edge research. University of Toronto’s excellent facilities include the best university library system in Canada. Students may also benefit from the close association of members of faculty with specialized institutes and centres at the University like the Centre for Industrial Relations.

The graduate teaching staff is so large and diverse that students can specialize in almost any area of interest. In addition to the courses offered by the Department, candidates may take courses in political science, management, history and other allied fields.

Graduates of the MA program have gained admission to top PhD programs and employment in both the public service and the private sector.

More questions? Come get your answers at one of the open houses.

Candidate Spotlight: Understanding Innovation and the Dynamic Allocation of Resources

Candidate Spotlight: Use of Diverse Data Demonstrates Strong Technical Skills

Guangbin Jeremy Hong Wins Bank of Canada Award

Forging a Path: Causal Inference and Data Science for Improved Policy

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