Dr. Rob Gillezeau from the University of Toronto will be presenting his paper Railroads, Land Cessions, and Indigenous Nations: Evidence from Canada (with Jeff Chan and Azim Essaji ) on Friday, April 11 from 12:30-2:00pm in GSB306. Please join us!
Growing up in an entrepreneurial family, it’s no surprise that Mansi Vishwajitsinh Vansia (BBE ’24) developed an interest in business and financial analysis.
As an international student hailing from India, the Business Economics graduate says she was nervous about starting her studies at Brock University, but her co-op term helped her push past her comfort zone and make connections that kickstarted her career.
“My co-op experience contributed hugely to the confidence that I have in myself and my abilities today,” she says. “It taught me how to talk to people, pitch myself, conduct myself in a professional environment and address complex situations using my critical thinking skills.”
During her co-op term, Mansi worked as an Operation Services intern for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services Canada Corporation, where she had the opportunity to apply her course teachings in the workplace, learn how to put together ad hoc reports and develop her leadership skills.
According to Mansi, one of the most valuable aspects of her internship was having casual coffee chats with employees and “learning more about their departments and their roles,” which helped her grow her network and gain clarity on her career interests.
“I started becoming more interested in finance, and because of that, I took more finance-focused courses during my third and fourth years,” she says.
When it came to securing a co-op placement, Mansi says the Economics Co-op Professional Preparation course provided her with the tools and resources required to write an effective resume and cover letter, navigate her career interests and identify her transferable skills.
In addition, microeconomics courses offered by Brock’s Department of Economics and Forecasting Using Time Series Data, taught by Associate Professor Jean-François Lamarche, were instrumental in taking her learning beyond the textbooks.
“These courses helped me look at challenges in my workplace through a strategic lens and come up with more creative ideas and solutions,” she says. “The hands-on projects and assignments allowed me to build confidence in my critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which I now apply daily, and supported my professional growth.”
Mansi’s advice for other students searching for a co-op placement is to “have that curiosity always within you to want to know more, learn more,” adding that this is what “really helped me stand out in terms of getting the role.”
Since graduating, Mansi has secured a position with BMW Group Financial Services Canada as a Customer, Brands and Sales System Transformation intern.
“Although I never envisioned myself working in the automotive industry, I was encouraged by our talent coaches to broaden my horizons and explore career opportunities beyond my immediate interests or expertise,” she says. “They emphasized the importance of stepping outside our comfort zones and being open to new possibilities, even in fields we knew little about.”
Mansi says she is happy that she decided to take the leap and see where it led her.
“By embracing opportunities, we may find ourselves in unexpected roles — roles that, while initially outside our radar, could turn out to be incredibly fulfilling,” she says. “Sometimes the paths we don’t plan for can be the most rewarding.”
Whether you want to jump on the fast track to graduation, reduce next year’s course load, satisfy a program requirement or pick up an elective, Brock’s Department of Economics is offering a wide array of Spring courses to help you advance your area of study and explore topics of interest.
ASY – ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE
Do you have an interest in global affairs and a desire to pursue development work in emerging markets? In this course, you’ll examine issues of income inequality, poverty, trade and economic growth from a developing world perspective.
Prerequisite(s): ECON 1P91 and 1P92 but these can be waived. Please send override requests to Indra Hardeen at [email protected]
This course may also be of interest to students in Political Science, LawPlus and Business.
If you’re thinking about switching to ECON, get a head start this spring! All the required second year courses are being offered including ECON 2P21, 2P22, 2P30 and 2P90.
Learn more about our Spring courses.
For more information or to register for Brock’s Spring/Summer courses, visit brocku.ca/springsummer
Earlier this month, Institute writer Lisa Camner McKay sat down with Teegawende Zeida, Assistant Professor of Economics, to discuss how discrimination impacts entrepreneurship, tax policy in countries with high inequality, and the value of understanding GDP.
Read the full article here.
Artem Prokhorov (Sydney) will present the paper “Dependence Modelling in Stochastic Frontier Models” on Monday October 24 at 1pm in WH 327. Please join.
Looking for a course to take in the Winter Term (D3)? Check these out:
Analyzing and providing solutions to current social and economic problems using statistical and data analysis techniques such as regression, quasi-experimental methods, and machine learning. Topics include income and social mobility, equality of opportunity, education, innovation and entrepreneurship, health care, judicial decisions, and climate change.
Duration: Jan. 09, 2023 to Apr. 07, 2023
Format: Lectures, lab, 4 hours per week.
Instructor: Tomson Ogwang
Labour unions in the marketplace. How unions affect, and are affected by, the labour and product markets. Topics include the effects of unions on wages, fringe benefits, turnover, inequality, productivity and the profitability of firms; union behaviour; who belongs to unions and why; collective bargaining; strikes; interest arbitration; public-sector unionism.
Duration: Jan. 09, 2023 to Apr. 07, 2023
Format: Lectures, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Prerequisite(s): ECON 1P91 and 1P92.
Cross-listing: also offered as LABR 2P15
Instructor: Harvey Stevens
Current understanding of the economics of pandemics including COVID-19. Introduction to key economic and health facts about pandemics. Examination of theoretical models to explain those facts, as well as empirical evidence regarding the success of specific policies such as lock-downs.
Duration: Jan. 09, 2023 to Apr. 07, 2023
Format: Lectures, 3 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Prerequisite(s): ECON 1P91 and 1P92
Instructor: Taylor Wright
Economic development of the People’s Republic of China, emphasizing the recent reform period (1980s to the present). Topics may include China’s economic structure, institutions, standards of living, income distribution, foreign trade and investment, state versus private ownership, urban and rural reforms, and population policies.
Duration: Jan. 09, 2023 to Apr. 07, 2023
Format: Lectures, 3 hours per week
Prerequisites: Prerequisite(s): ECON 1P91 and 1P92.
Instructor: Qian Liu
Full list of available D3 courses available here
Robert Dimand is the recipient of the distinguished researcher of the year award, an award given annually by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Brock University.
The article “Trade and minimum wages in general equilibrium: Theory and evidence” written by Xue Bai, Arpita Chatterjee, Kala Krishna and Hong Ma. You can find the paper https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1e06u_WJW3McJ and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002219962100115X?via%3Dihub.
Congratulations to Steven Iamarino for winning the 2020 FOSS Best Paper in Graduate
Course award. His research paper is “Causes for Property vs. Violent crime in Canada”. Well done!
Diane Dupont, Professor in Brock University’s Department of Economics, has been named an inaugural Fellow by the Canadian Resource and Environmental Economics Association (CREEA).
The title was conferred at a virtual CREEA event in November in recognition of her work to advance the profession of environmental and resource economics and her significant contributions to CREEA and its operations.
Brandon Schaufele, Associate Professor of Business, Economics and Public Policy at the Ivey Business School at Western University, spoke about Dupont at the award event and later described Dupont as a world-renowned researcher. He commended both her ability to build research networks and her service to organizations that support researchers. He also pointed out she has built a thriving career in what has been, until recently, a male-dominated field.
“Diane is one of the first and leading female environmental economists in Canada,” said Schaufele. “She has provided an example for a lot people with her work on policy issues and leading research networks, in addition to her support of up-and-coming scholars.”
Dupont’s willingness to collaborate and explore interdisciplinary research opportunities has always been a priority, even in the early days of her research career when environmental economics was just beginning to grow into its own area.
Her determination to examine the issue through different lenses was unusual in the field at the time, but Dupont says that new approaches have combined with the emergence of big data to allow for positive change.
Dupont has also made time to support and mentor colleagues both within and outside of her discipline and to provide service through administrative roles, most recently as the Interim Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2013 to 2017.
“It has been an honour and a delight to work with Diane in her various administrative roles both within the Faculty of Social Sciences and the broader University,” said Ingrid Makus, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. “Her commitment to research excellence and her generosity in supporting faculty, students and staff make her a wonderful colleague.”
Learn more about the award and Diane’s career here.
