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  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif, Associate Professor of Economics at Thompson Rivers University, used provincial level panel data from the Statistics Canada, to examine the impact of permanent international immigration on the unemployment rate in Canada. The results suggest that, in the short run, immigration has a significant positive impact on unemployment rate and that the unidirectional short-run…

  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif, Associate Professor of Economics, research uses panel data from the Statistics Canada (1983–2010) to examine the determinants of electricity consumption in Canada. His statistical estimations suggest that per capita real Gross Domestic Production (GDP) has a significant positive while electricity price has a negative, but insignificant impact on per capita electricity consumption. The results suggest that there…

  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif, Associate Professor of Economics at Thompson Rivers University, used longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Survey (1994–2006), to examine the impact of income inequality on current health outcomes. His statistical result suggests that once unobserved individual specific heterogeneity is controlled for, income inequality as measured by Gini Coefficient has no significant impact…

  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif, Associate Professor of Economcs at Thompson Rivers University used longitudinal Canadian data from the National Population Health Survey (1994-2006) in order to examine the impact of the provincial unemployment rate on mental health as measured by the short form depression scale. After controlling for the unobserved individual specific factors study found that, for…

  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif, Associate Professor of Economics at Thompson Rivers University, used data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (1994–2009), to examine the relationship between comparison income and individual happiness. His study utilizes two definitions of comparison income: Average income of the reference group and the difference between one’s own household income and the average…

  Posted on: November 25, 2015

Dr. Latif research examines the impact of new immigration on housing rent, using Canadian province-level panel data from 1983 to 2010. The statistical evidence suggest that immigration flow has a significant positive impact on housing rent in the long run. He also finds a short run short run causal impacts of new immigration on rent….

  Posted on: November 13, 2015

Dr. Wood research attempts to calculate the optimal (second best) gasoline taxes for Ontario and the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA) under distortionary pre-existing income taxes. It is well known that an increase in the tax on gasoline has social benefits because it reduces traffic congestion, air pollution, and accidents. An increase in the gasoline tax…

  Posted on: November 12, 2015

Dr. Wood research uses an economic trade model to evaluate British Columbia’s (BC) log export restrictions. His research contradicts previous work which indicated that there are efficiency gains from the removal of BC’s log export restrictions. When the assumptions of the previous research are relaxed he finds that the current policy of restricting log exports is…

  Posted on: November 11, 2015

Dr. Lamb research examined survey data collected in the Canadian city of Kamloops, British Columbia. Data included banking habits and attitudes, socioeconomic characteristics, and financial capability levels of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal fringe finance users. The results suggest that Aboriginal fringe finance users have different characteristics, financial experiences and levels of financial capability than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. Aboriginal fringe finance users have lower…

  Posted on: November 11, 2015

Dr. Hossain research attempts to investigate the effects of women empowerment on infant mortality in Bangladesh. He used four indicators to measure four dimensions of women empowerment: the level of education, participation in household (HH) decisions, autonomy in movements and employment status. Using the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data of 2011 and advanced…

  Posted on: November 11, 2015

Dr. Hossain and Dr. Lamb examine participation in the Canadian tax-free savings account (TFSA), implemented in 2009, and its potential impact on wealth inequality in Canada. They use data from the 2012 Survey of Financial Security to test the hypothesis that high-income earners and wealth holders are the most likely recipients of the benefits associated…

  Posted on: November 11, 2015

Dr. Hossain and Dr. Tsigaris research explores how grade expectations are formed by two groups of students as they progressively attempt to forecast their final grade. They first classify students who do not make significant forecast errors during the term as “good” forecasters. The other group contains students who are “poor” forecasters of their final grade….

  Posted on: November 10, 2015

Dr. Hossain and Dr. Hoque conducted a study to examine the role of women empowerment in the utilization of antenatal care in Bangladesh. Using a 2011 database and applying advanced statistical techniques they found that the level of education, freedom of choice/movement, power in the household decision making process and involvement in economic activities are…

  Posted on: May 27, 2014

Dr. Joel Wood graduated from the University of Guelph with a Ph.D. in 2011. His areas of interest are Environmental Economics, Natural Resource Economics, Cost-Benefit analysis, Development Economics and Environmental Policy. Dr. Wood worked at the Fraser Institute as a Senior Research Economist at the Centre for Environmental studies from 2010-2013. Dr. Wood was promoted…

  Posted on: April 23, 2014

TRU bestowed Professor Tsigaris with the 2013-2014 Environmental Achievement Award. The award recognizes individuals within the Thompson Rivers community that have made or are currently making remarkable contributions to environmental sustainability. Peter Tsigaris has been instrumental in advancing the goal of environmental sustainability at Thompson Rivers University. Peter has written high impact publications for Science Daily and National Geographic, the…

  Posted on: April 23, 2014

Thompson Rivers University bestowed Dr. Ehsan Latif, Associate Professor of Economics the 2013-2014 Excellent in Scholarship Award. The Award for Excellence in Scholarship recognizes excellence in research, scholarly activity or the production of creative works over a sustained period of time that represents a significant contribution to the field of inquiry. Award winners will have…

  Posted on: April 8, 2014

Dr. Curtis Eaton University Professor and Professor of Economics University of Calgary  “The Coevolution of Beliefs and Networks” Cognitive dissonance is a deeply rooted human psychological trait. We experience dissonance when our beliefs are not the same as those of our associates.  What do we do when this happens? We either change our beliefs and/or…