Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science

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Adrift without an anchor: federal fiscal policy and Canada’s long-term debt ratio
(2024) Dahlby, Bev; Ferede, Ergete
This research bulletin tests whether the federal government’s fiscal policies are consistent with its fiscal anchor—a declining debt ratio over the next 25 years—using a Monte Carlo simulation model with random shocks to the growth rate similar to those experienced by the Canadian economy over the last 40 years. Since the pandemic, the federal government has postponed reducing its deficit because it has continually revised program spending upward. The deterioration in the federal fiscal position over the past year, with larger projected deficits, interest rates, and debt levels, has increased the likelihood of higher debt ratios in the future. Our model indicates that there is a 44% chance that the net debt ratio will be higher in 2036/37 and a 59% chance that it will be higher in 2046/47. We conclude that the federal government’s claim that its fiscal policies will lead to a downward trend in its debt ratio is not credible because it ignores the likelihood that future recessions will result in larger budget deficits.
Advances in Titicaca basin archaeology
(2006) Valdez, Lidio M.
This edited volume explores the ancient history of the Andean Altiplano region. The editors, especially Stanish and Aldenderfer, have been working in the south central Andean region for more than a decade and have established themselves as leading scholars of the archaeology of the Altiplano. The volume consists of eighteen chapters, arranged in chronological order, which were written by several scholars who present the results of various field studies carried out in the Titicaca Basin over the years.
Amplifying heterodox economics with video clips
(2021) Jahangir, Junaid
Many ECON 101 students do not major in Economics partly because of the way it is taught through the chalk and talk method and partly due to the subject content that emphasizes abstract models over contemporary issues including climate change, inequality, and financial crises. The critique is of both content and presentation. The objective therefore in this paper is to address both these issues. To this end a review of salient ideas of the Reardon et al. (2018) textbook Introducing a New Economics is undertaken and paired up with video clips from movies and cartoons to amplify their reach.
Ancestry variation in the accuracy of Rogers's method of sex estimation
(2020) Simpson, Rachel; McKenzie, Hugh
Rogers’s (1999) method of human skeletal sex estimation evaluates morphological variation in four traits of the distal humerus. Although this method has the potential for widespread application in forensic and biological anthropological contexts, previous tests have been unable to replicate Rogers’s initial accuracy rate of 92%. Additionally, the role of ancestry in the accuracy of the method has not been sufficiently explored. This study expands on previous blind tests of Rogers’s (1999) original method, though it differs methodologically from prior studies (Ammer et al. 2019; Falys et al. 2005; Harrison 2017; Horbaly et al. 2019; Rogers 2009; Tallman & Blanton 2019; Vance et al. 2011; Wanek 2002; Watkinson 2012) by explicitly controlling for ancestry (85 American Black and 114 American White individuals, as defined in the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection), by seriating humeri according to trait expression, and by using logistic regression in addition to chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests for analyzing the results. The findings determined that the method was 67% accurate overall and that correct classifications were 2.03 more likely for American Whites than American Blacks, posing an important consideration for practitioners of this method.
Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria
(2024) Michel, Megan; Skourtanioti, Eirini; Pierini, Federica; Guevara, Evelyn K.; Moetsch, Angela; Kocher, Arthur; Barquera, Rodrigo; Bianco, Raffaela A.; Carlhoff, Selina; Bove, Lorenza Coppola; Freilich, Suzanne; Giffin, Karen; Hermes, Taylor; Hiß, Alina; Knolle, Florian; Nelson, Elizabeth A.; Neumann, Gunnar U.; Papac, Luka; Penske, Sandra; Rohrlach, Adam B.; Salem, Nada; Semerau, Lena; Villalba-Mouco, Vanessa; Abadie, Isabelle; Aldenderfer, Mark; Beckett, Jessica F.; Brown, Matthew; Campus, Franco G. R.; Chenghwa, Tsang; Cruz Berrocal, María; Damašek, Ladislav; Carlson, Kellie Sara Duffett; Durand, Raphaël; Ernée, Michal; Fântăneanu, Cristinel; Frenzel, Hannah; García Atiénzar, Gabriel; Guillén, Sonia; Hsieh, Ellen; Karwowski, Maciej; Kelvin, David; Kelvin, Nikki; Khokhlov, Alexander; Kinaston, Rebecca L.; Korolev, Arkadii; Krettek, Kim-Louise; Küßner, Mario; Lai, Luca; Look, Cory; Majander, Kerttu; Mandl, Kirsten; Mazzarello, Vittorio; McCormick, Michael; de Miguel Ibáñez, Patxuka; Murphy, Reg; Németh, Rita E.; Nordqvist, Kerkko; Novotny, Friederike; Obenaus, Martin; Olmo-Enciso, Lauro; Onkamo, Päivi; Orschiedt, Jörg; Patrushev, Valerii; Peltola, Sanni; Romero, Alejandro; Rubino, Salvatore; Sajantila, Antti; Salazar-García, Domingo C.; Serrano, Elena; Shaydullaev, Shapulat; Sias, Emanuela; Šlaus, Mario; Stančo, Ladislav; Swanston, Treena; Teschler-Nicola, Maria; Valentin, Frederique; Van de Vijver, Katrien; Varney, Tamara L.; Vigil-Escalera Guirado, Alfonso; Waters, Christopher K.; Weiss-Krejci, Estella; Winter, Eduard; Lamnidis, Thiseas C.; Prüfer, Kay; Nägele, Kathrin; Spyrou, Maria; Schiffels, Stephan; Stockhammer, Philipp W.; Haak, Wolfgang; Posth, Cosimo; Warinner, Christina; Bos, Kirsten I.; Herbig, Alexander; Krause, Johannes
Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P. falciparum, P. vivax and P. malariae from 16 countries spanning around 5,500 years of human history. We identified P. vivax and P. falciparum across geographically disparate regions of Eurasia from as early as the fourth and first millennia bce, respectively; for P. vivax, this evidence pre-dates textual references by several millennia. Genomic analysis supports distinct disease histories for P. falciparum and P. vivax in the Americas: similarities between now-eliminated European and peri-contact South American strains indicate that European colonizers were the source of American P. vivax, whereas the trans-Atlantic slave trade probably introduced P. falciparum into the Americas. Our data underscore the role of cross-cultural contacts in the dissemination of malaria, laying the biomolecular foundation for future palaeo-epidemiological research into the impact of Plasmodium parasites on human history. Finally, our unexpected discovery of P. falciparum in the high-altitude Himalayas provides a rare case study in which individual mobility can be inferred from infection status, adding to our knowledge of cross-cultural connectivity in the region nearly three millennia ago.
Ancient use of coca leaves in the Peruvian central highlands
(2015) Valdez, Lidio M.; Taboada, Juan; Valdez, J. Ernesto
Coca, of the genus Erythroxylum, is a stimulant and painkiller that played key roles within the Inka state. As reported by the early Spanish chroniclers, coca was the most important plant offering during public rituals. Likewise, important landmarks within the Inka domain regularly received offerings of this precious leaf. Its high value is indicated by the fact that not only the living chewed the leaves on a regular basis, but also the dead carried coca leaves in their mouths. We still do not know when coca leaves were first used in the Peruvian central highlands. This uncertainty is largely due to the lack of coca leaves recovered from highland archaeological sites. Several leaves recently found at Convento in the northern part of the Ayacucho Valley are the first direct evidence from an archaeological context that, based on ceramic stylistic grounds, dates to sometime between the end of the Early Intermediate Period (ca. 1–550 ce) and the beginning of the Middle Horizon Period (ca. 550–1100 ce). The botanical identification also indicates that the source of the coca was the Pacific coast. This paper reports this unique finding and discusses its implications.
Antidumping, antitrust, and competition
(1997) Colonescu, Constantin
This work develops a two-country, two-firm model of imperfect competition to show that antitrust policy may be anticompetitive both at home and abroad. Antidumping has a procompetitive effect abroad. At home antidumping is anticompetitive in a static framework but procompetitive in a repeated game. The anticompetitive effect of antidumping is shown to be enhanced by the presence of a domestic antitrust policy. If trade and antitrust policies are co-ordinated, welfare is found to be more sensitive to antitrust than to antidumping. Hence, antidumping and antitrust are imperfect substitutes.
Are there realistic possibilities for a higher “batting” average? On improving residential energy efficiency in Canada
(2013) Ryan, David L.; Jahangir, Junaid
The main use of energy in the residential sector in Canada is for space heating. Reductions in residential energy use, therefore, are likely to be achieved primarily through energy-saving retrofits, such as improved insulation. Reasons advanced to explain the foot-dragging of the residential sector in this regard are examined here, along with various policy options. Canadian survey data from 2003 are used to examine and compare the most energy-inefficient households who saw no need for retrofits with other households who provided a similar response, with a view to assessing whether there are factors that can be exploited to increase the uptake of such retrofits. The results suggest there is likely to be no quick fix. In the absence of large retrofit subsidies, with their accompanying free-rider problem, or a multi-pronged strategy that includes a whole array of policy instruments, including one that changes the relative importance of energy costs in household budgets, the outlook for sizeable improvements in residential energy efficiency in Canada via residential retrofits does not appear to be overly promising.
Arqueologia de la Cuenca del Qaracha, Ayacucho, Peru
(1994) Valdez, Lidio M.; Vivanco, Cirilo
In order to evaluate the Precolumbian occupation of the Qaracha Basin (Ayacucho, Peru), we carried out an archaeological survey in 1988, which yielded evidence of three main occupations, the first under Wari domination ca. A.D. 600, with settlements located 2,800-3,650 m asl, in control of farmland linked to corn cultivation. Around A.D. 900 the Wari sites were abandoned, and new fortified sites were built in strategic positions in the upper elevations. Inka control of the central Andes brought about abandonment of the fortified sites and the founding of new Inka sites (mitimaes) near the ancient Wari sites. We believe that the first change was tied to collapse of the Wari state, which was followed by an unsettled situation in which former elements of the Wari state were at war. The final change ended the chaotic period with the birth of the Inka state in the Andes.
Asentamientos fortificados y conflicto en el valle de Acari, Perú
(2010) Valdez, Lidio M.
Conflict is a universal fact; However, its origins and especially its variability from one region to another remain poorly understood. The objective of this work is to discuss the specific case of the Acarí Valley, on the south coast of Peru, where recent archaeological studies have shown that the early Intermediate period (ca. 50 a.C. - 350 a.C.) was characterized by violence. On the one hand, the archaeological evidence that denotes violence in this valley is manifested through the presence of settlements provided with defensive systems. Because settlements designed for defense did not exist previously in this valley and in the entire south coast, evidence from the Acarí Valley provides an excellent opportunity to visualize the origins of the conflict in this region. On the other hand, the recent discovery in Acarí of dozens of bodies with indisputable signs of being decapitated, confirms that the beginnings of the Early Intermediate period were convulsed. Finally, the evidence from Acarí allows us to maintain that the so-called 'trophy heads' are the direct result of the violent actions in which the residents of the various settlements of this valley participated.
Bad year economics at Birchy Lake
(2018) Holly Jr., Donald H.; Prince, Paul; Erwin, John C.
Anthropologists have long been interested in understanding how societies cope with risk and uncertainty in their subsistence economies. The topic has been of particular interest to the study of hunters and gatherers, where risk and uncertainty are often conceptualized as problems of the natural rather than social environment. This paper focuses on an archaeological site located in the interior of the island of Newfoundland that was inhabited by Amerindian people hunting caribou in the spring of the year, presumably because they were having difficulty procuring marine resources at the coast. The plight of these Amerindians, at a time when they were sharing the island with Paleo-Inuit peoples and climate change was undermining islanders’ access to critical marine resources, highlights the complex play between cultural adaptation, social and historical processes, and the natural environment.
Bioarchaeological analysis of human remains from the destroyed Early Neolithic cemetery of Moty – Novaia Shamanka (Cis-Baikal)
(2022) Bourgeois, Rebecca L.; Weber, Andrzej W.; Bazaliiskii, Vladimir I.; McKenzie, Hugh; Lieverse, Angela R.
Moty – Novaia Shamanka (MNS) is an Early Neolithic (7560–6660 HPD cal BP) destroyed Kitoi cemetery, located on the lower Irkut River in Siberia. In 2014–2015, small rescue excavations were conducted by archaeologists from Irkutsk State University. MNS dates to the period between the two phases of use identified at the nearby Shamanka II Kitoi cemetery (Southwest Baikal). This paper presents the results of a bioarchaeological study of the human skeletal remains from MNS and discusses these findings in relation to hunter-gatherer life-history at this site and in the Cis-Baikal region. The human skeletal materials from MNS show life history markers, including isotopic signatures, consistent with the other Early Neolithic Kitoi samples. However, one individual shows anomalous isotopic signatures similar to those found, to date, only in one other Kitoi burial. Lastly and surprisingly, radiocarbon dating identified one Early Bronze Age individual (4970–3470 cal BP).
A bird bone necklace from Amato, Acari Valley, Peru
(2005) Valdez, Lidio M.
This paper reports the recent discovery of a bird bone necklace from Amato, an Early Intermediate Period site located in the Acari Valley of Peru. The necklace was found in association with an approximately 60 year-old adult male, around whom had been buried several dozen headless human individuals of different sexes and ages, the likely victims of ritual sacrifice. The necklace was made from about 200 carpometacarpus bones of a small bird species that remains to be identified.
Birth places, embodied spaces: Tlicho pregnancy stories across the generations
(2017) Dawson, Leslie
The forced culture changes of colonization in Canada affected Indigenous societies at different points in time; colonization of the Tlicho (formerly Dogrib) region in the Northwest Territories (NWT) was considered to have been relatively recent. The profound changes to the lives of the Tlicho can be heard in the stories across the generations. To investigate the impact of colonization on Tlicho maternal health, I collected pregnancy and the birth stories from Tlicho women of different generations. 1 Generations were further expanded with the addition of Joan Ryan's work with Tlicho Elders in Whati, NWT, and Pertice Moffitt's discussions with younger Tlicho women in Behchoko, NWT. I collected pregnancy and birth stories from ten Tlicho women between the ages of sixty through ninety in the Tlicho communities of Behchoko and Whati over the summers of 2013 and 2014. The women met with me in their homes and most shared their stories in Tlicho with the aid of an interpreter. Grounded in women's narratives, particularly of Tlicho Elders and a traditional midwife, their stories reveal changes in the lived experiences of pregnancy and birth as reflecting different sociohistoric locations within histories of colonization-from birth on the land with community and midwives, to the beginnings of settlement and birth in the mission hospital in Rae, and to lone evacuation to Yellowknife for medicalized birth in a biomedical hospital.
Block grants and education expenditure
(2016) Ferede, Ergete; Islam, Shahidul
This article investigates the effects of block grants on education expenditures using panel data from Canadian provinces over the period 1982 to 2008. Our main empirical identification strategy relies on the use of the allocation formula for equalization grant—a component of the Canadian federal block grant. The results indicate that block grants have stimulative effects on provincial education expenditure. Our results suggest that a one dollar increase in per capita federal grants is associated with an increase in per capita education expenditure of about Can$0.21, which is roughly proportional to the share of education in total provincial spending. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks.
Book review of Acemoglu, Daron and Johnson, Simon: Power and progress: our thousand-year struggle over technology and prosperity
(2024) Jahangir, Junaid
Daron Acemoglu has been among noted economists to study the economics of automation. His latest book has received attention from prominent economists and academics such as Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Angus Deaton, Joel Mokyr, and Michael Sandel, amongst others. The purpose of this review is to summarize his main thesis and situate it in the milieu of popular books on automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology including Susskind (2020) and Suleyman/Bhaskar (2023).
Book review of Beker, V. A.: Economic theory for the real world
(2025) Jahangir, Junaid
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, there has been a renewed push by student groups towards pluralism and real-world content in economics (Earle et al. 2017, Fischer et al. 2018). In this regard, several books of authors like Komlos (2023), McGuiness (2023), and Schneider (2024) have been recently published with words like ‘pluralism’ or ‘real-world’ in the title. However, not all such books are textbooks to answer the call for change in economics pedagogy, even though they address textbook content. The textbook of McGuiness (2023), which is like a supplementary reader to go with economics textbooks, has a neoclassical bent. Similarly, the work of Beker (2024), although heterodox, is not promoted as a textbook with exercises and resources. However, I was intrigued by his book as I used Komlos (2023) in my Humanistic Economics class and Komlos provided the foreword. Beker’s book reflects both seminal and recent contributions in heterodox economics and in a manner accessible to interested instructors, students, and lifelong learners. Moreover, while Komlos (2023) and Schneider (2024) are promoted as textbooks, Beker (2024) would be a supplementary reader that focuses on select topics.
Book review: Blanchard, O. and D. Rodrik (2021), Combating inequality: rethinking government’s role
(2022) Jahangir, Junaid
Introductory mainstream microeconomics textbooks like Mankiw et al. (2020) relegate the discussion on inequality towards the end of the book’s chapters, where the text focuses more on poverty reduction instead of the contemporary discussions on the Top 1 per cent and wealth taxes. Often the topic is not addressed at the ECON 101 level. Anecdotally, some economists believe that the concern with inequality rests predominantly on envy. This is why the book Combating Inequality edited by Blanchard and Rodrik is pressingly significant, as it comprises 29 articles, which converge towards the consensus that inequality must be effectively addressed beyond poverty alleviation (p. xiii). The articles are short and readable and can be easily assigned in undergraduate classes including ECON 101 to spur discussion and interest in one of the most pressing issues of our times.
Book review: Edible economics
(2024) Jahangir, Junaid
I googled to find popular books written by him including Kicking Away the Ladder (2002), Bad Samaritans (2008), 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism (2010), and Economics: The User's Guide (2014). These books provide a countervailing narrative to the usual popular books like Freakonomics (2006), The Undercover Economist (2006), Economics in One Lesson (2008), and Excuse Me Professor (2015). Chang's latest book Edible Economics (2022) crystallizes the narrative that he has developed through his popular books over the years. While he uses the imagery of food in this book to reinforce his narrative, I have reviewed the salient ideas as follows in a bid to draw out lessons I could share with my ECON 101 students.
Book review: Foundations of real-world economics
(2023) Jahangir, Junaid
A chapter-by-chapter review of Foundations of Real-World Economics by John Komlos.

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