Barrington-Leigh research group McGill University Institute for Health and Social Policy McGill School of Environment Department of Economics Publications

Research

• The "economics of well-being". We use large data sets from surveys that include self-reports of life evaluations in order to understand the empirical, experienced human benefits of economic and social variation, changes, and policy.
• Climate policy. Taking an economist's approach, we are investigating the impact of extant and plausible policies aimed at mitigating greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

Opportunities

IHSP internship: If you are interested in research related to the topics above, I typically take on one or more more students under the IHSP's winter or summer internship programme for policy-related research. Students have tended to continue on with their project after the internship for an honours thesis, graduate thesis, or policy paper.

Alternatively, you can send me an email that includes the following information:

• A brief outline (1-2 paragraphs) of your research ideas and questions you'd like to work on
• An electronic copy of your academic transcript (unofficial is fine)
• Your CV
• A sample of your writing
• How you propose to fund your work (I may have some support available, but typically you will need to find at least part of your own funding).
• Please also include your last TOEFL score if English is not your first language

Current students

	Fatemeh Behzadnejad Fatemeh is a PhD student at the department of Economics, McGill University. Her project is on the relation between weather fluctuations and subjective measures of well being. She is interested to see to what extent these measures depend on transient factors such as weather variations. She is using evidence from the Canadian Community Health Survey and National population Health Survey.
	Yu-Cheng (Greg) Chang Yu-Cheng (Greg) Chang received his BA from Simon Fraser University in 2006 and is now completing his Masters degree in Economics at McGill University. His research interests includes social policy, health economics and development economics. Prior to starting his Masters program, Greg worked as a Junior Policy Analyst with Environment Canada looking at the issue of toxic chemicals in products. He also co-founded a branding agency that was recognized as the "15th Biggest Graphic Design Firm" in British Columbia. It was during this entrepreneurial period that he developed a deep passion for social well-being. His research at IHSP investigates how objective measures of health outcomes affect individuals' subjective well-being throughout their life cycle.
	Ronald Ho Ronald Ho is now in his final semester pursuing a major in Agricultural & Environmental Economics and a minor in International Relations. He has a huge passion for the studies of human well-being, environmental policies and international politics. He founded a new McGill student club called the Investment Bank of Happiness to advocate happy living and spark the discussion on well-being studies on campus and in the Montreal community. He is now conducting a longitudinal approach looking at the relationship between income inequality and happiness of one country.
	Jerry Lee Jerry Lee is currently in her U2 year at McGill and is majoring in Physiology with a minor in Economics. She developed a passion for understanding and measuring subjective well-being while she worked as a research assistant at the UBC Attentional Neuroscience Laboratory this past summer. There, she studied the cognitive causes of falls in seniors and explored the intersection of health and life satisfaction within the emerging senior population in Canada. This year, Jerry will be working with Professor Barrington-Leigh on the "Income Inequality and Happiness" project. She is excited to learn more about how economics and life satisfaction are correlated. On campus, she is an active member of the Physiology Undergraduate League of Students, the International Relations Students' Association of McGill, and the Montreal Brain Awareness Campaign. After graduation, Jerry plans to pursue a graduate degree in law.
	Angela Zheng Angela Zheng is currently doing a B.A. in Honours Economics with minors in Mathematics and Biology. Her interests are in environmental and social policy as well as climate change and energy economics. After completing her undergraduate degree, she plans on pursuing a graduate degree in economics.

Past students

	Clare Devereux
	Marc Jacquemond Marc Jacquemond received a B.A from McGill University in Urban Systems and worked on the topic of Inequality and Happiness in Germany from 1984 to 2010 under Prof. Barrington-Leigh's supervision at the IHSP. His research interests include regional and urban policy, social policy and well-being studies. He will be studying regional and urban planning at SciencesPo and the LSE starting in September 2012.
	Joaquin Kritz Lara Joaquín Kritz Lara has recently finished his BA in Economics and International Development Studies (IDS) from McGill University. He is working with Professor Barrington-Leigh on the distributional impact of Quebec's cap-and-trade system on households, industry and the labour market. Having interned in the UN International Labour Organization (ILO), Joaquín has developed a passion for labour economics, which adds to his previous interest on climate change and market failure. As such, he is particularly interested in the relationship between climate policy and employment.
	Katherine Wagner Katherine is a first year student undertaking a Joint-Honors in Economics and Accounting, with a Minor in Environment. She is currently working with Prof. Barrington-Leigh on a project detailing the equity impacts of Quebec's newly implemented cap-and-trade system, a project that appeals to her interests in both economics and environment.