Biography
I am Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto, where I have been a faculty member since 1989. A labour economist by training, my research has spanned economic development, inequality and poverty, labour markets, and, more recently, the economics of higher education and personnel and defence economics.
Over the past decade, I have had the opportunity to serve in senior academic leadership roles outside the Department of Economics. Most recently, I completed a five-year term as Vice-Provost, Strategic Enrolment Management, following service as Vice-Dean, Graduate Education in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Earlier administrative roles included serving as Chair of the Department of Economics and as Associate Chair for both undergraduate and graduate studies.
These appointments proved to be an educational experience in their own right. As an empirical economist, they provided access to rich institutional data and exposed me to some of the most important questions facing higher education, including student access and affordability, enrolment management, graduate education and outcomes, and institutional decision-making. Even more importantly, they provided an opportunity to work closely with professional colleagues across the university and to learn first-hand how a large and complex institution functions and the kinds of decisions it must make.These experiences have shaped my current research interests. They led to collaborative work on the economics of higher education, including research on doctoral education and institutional financial aid. They also created opportunities to engage with colleagues across the Canadian higher education sector and, more unexpectedly, with leaders in the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Armed Forces. Those connections have, in turn, helped inspire emerging programmatic and research agendas at the intersection of higher education, labour markets, and military personnel systems.
Prior to these administrative roles, my research focused primarily on questions of economic development, inequality, and poverty, particularly in low-income countries, as well as an assortment of Canadian labour market issues. I received my PhD and MA in Economics from Princeton University and my BSc in Economics from the University of Toronto.