Everything Economics at the University of Toronto
Graduate students at the Department of Economics have attracted the attention of external funding agencies and been awarded scholarships for the upcoming term.
Imagine combining the characters of a billionaire tech founder, academics from some of the most prestigious research institutions in the world, and a cast of three thousand residents of the United States living below the poverty line. It’s not the pitch for cinematic a summer blockbuster, but a summary of the season’s hottest methodical and meticulous research study. It has captured media attention across the political spectrum.
Eva Vivalt, Assistant Professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto, was one of the lead researchers in a Research Practice Partnership (RPP) that spent years investigating the outcomes of unconditional cash transfers to people living in poverty.
1000 people with average annual household incomes of $29,000 living in Illinois and Texas received transfers of $1000 per month for three years. A control group of 2000 people from the same locations and income levels received $50 each per month. Described as the “Sam Altman-backed basic income study,” in the popular press since the study results came out at the end of July, $24 million of the almost $40 million in cash transfers was funded by the Altman-founded OpenAI through OpenResearch. The project was driven by Altman’s often-stated belief that some form of basic income may be necessary as AI replaces people in jobs. [Read more…]
Measuring social progress requires the right metric. The broadening and narrowing of wage gaps, that women and Black men earn 87 cents to every dollar a white man earns, for example, are often cited in discussions about the persistence of employer discrimination in the workforce. Wage gaps are calculations currently based only on average wages, and it’s a metric University of Toronto Researcher Rahul Deb and his co-authors have found makes discrimination too easy to dismiss. Instead, Deb et al propose, calculations should be based on a model that considers the entire wage distribution – instead of just the average or mean — to better isolate the effects of discrimination on compensation of diverse groups of people. [Read more…]
Toni Gravelle, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada (BoC), took part in a fireside chat with students in the Master of Financial Economics program on July 9th. One of four Deputy Governors, Gravelle sits on the central bank’s Governing Council led by the Governor and Senior Deputy Governor. The six members of the council engage in every aspect of the country’s monetary policy, including setting interest rates. Deputy governors are appointed by the bank’s Governing Council at the recommendation of the Prime Minister and cabinet. Like deputy ministers and other senior civil servants, these highly trained and experienced individuals oversee operations and delivery of the ministerial services. Members of the governing council supervise, and are accountable, for ensuring the Bank of Canada fulfills its mandate. In his role, Gravelle leads the Financial Markets Department (FMD) and the Banking and Payments Department of the BoC. He is also one of two Deputy Governors who oversee the bank’s role in supporting a reliable financial system. Gravelle earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Western Ontario. [Read more…]
The breadth of research conducted by members of the Department of Economics is currently on display at National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Summer Institute this week. [Read more…]