Event Details: 

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The Canadian Women Economist Committee (CWEC/CFEC) is pleased to present the brownbag seminar schedule for winter/spring 2026. The seminars are held on the last Monday of every month (10 AM PT/11 AM MT/12 PM CT/1 PM ET/2 PM AT).

Next talks up to April 2026

February 23

Andrea Craig, University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Rapid Transportation and Dwelling Prices: Proximity and Market Access, with Ian Herzog (University of Guelph)

Rapid transportation infrastructure projects are major government expenditures. Economic theory and empirical evidence suggest that the benefits of transportation improvements are capitalized into dwelling prices. The literature focuses on how proximity to new stations affects dwelling prices, but this combines effect of falling travel times with the effects of transit-oriented development and neighbourhood change. We separate these effects using changes in commuter market access, which grows when new rapid transit speeds up trips to employment centres. Data from Vancouver identify changes in market access both near and far from rail stations and highlight the role of feeder busses. Combining this data with housing transactions from BC Assessment, we analyze the impact of changes in market access and station proximity from Vancouver’s Canada Line on dwelling prices. Parsing these effects can improve our understanding of rapid transit's value and accessibility's effect on housing markets.

Epio Odette Bayala, Université de Sherbrooke, Environmental Shock and Children’s health: The Case of Toxic Waste Dumping in Ivory Coast

We analyze the persistent health consequences of the illegal dumping of toxic waste that occurred in Ivory Coast in 2006. By linking geospatial data on the locations of dumping sites with GPS coordinates of household clusters from the Demographic and Health Surveys, we measure exposure based on distance to the nearest contaminated site. Our estimates, based on spatial variation in proximity to the sites, show that each 10 kilometers increase in distance is associated with an improvement of 0.11 and 0.10 standard deviations in weight-for-age-for-age and weight-for-height scores, as well as a 3 and 2 percentage point reduction in the probability of underweight and wasting among children aged 0 to 5 years. Analysis of potential mechanisms suggests that adverse birth health conditions and deteriorating local economic activity are possible transmission channels. Overall, the results reveal the long-lasting health impacts of cross border pollution and highlight the substantial public health and environmental justice challenges posed by hazardous waste flows in developing countries.

March 30

Yin Shi, University of Victoria, Forecasting Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Canada: An Empirical Macroeconomic Framework

Nwakego Eyisi, Telfer School of Management, Measuring Front-End Innovation in Data-Constrained Economies: A New Index and Its Application to the FEI–Trade Nexus in Emerging Markets

April 27

Justine Guillochon, Laval University, Green Tax Pass-Through to Retail Fuel Prices and Firm Heterogeneity: Evidence from France

Apoorva Babbar, University of Calgari, Generative AI in Corporate Settings: Does Gender Matter?