2024: ACEA Best Student Paper Series
Title: How Do Provincial Governments in Canada Use Environmental Taxes?
Author: Michael Adu-Gyamfi* (Memorial University of Newfoundland), Kam Hon Chu (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Abstract: Climate change and its impact have been topical in the literature, considering its multifaceted influence on human welfare and global ecology. Hence, environmental taxation has been applied in almost all countries as the primary approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and its effects while generating revenues for other socio-economic needs. Therefore, this study examines how Canada’s ten provincial governments use environmental taxes. To achieve this, the study tests four theoretical underpinnings: strict and broad Pigouvian hypotheses, the double dividend hypothesis, and the Leviathan hypothesis, using panel data from 2011 to 2020. The study used panel data regression models and dynamic panel data techniques in the analyses. The estimates did not support the propositions of the strict Pigouvian and broad Pigouvian hypotheses; however, they were consistent with the double dividend hypothesis and revealed that the provincial governments behaved as Leviathans.
Title: Traditional Indigenous foodways and retail subsidies: Evidence from the Northwest Territories Community Survey and Nutrition North Canada
Author: Bela Georgiev* (Toronto Metropolitan University), Nicholas Li (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Abstract: Traditional foods (often referred to as “country foods”) play a critical role in Indigenous culture, nutrition, food sovereignty and food security. Policies that prioritize store-bought food are often viewed as undermining these foods. We provide evidence that two recent policy reforms that subsidize store-bought food in the Northwest Territories do not appear to negatively impact traditional foods. Our analysis uses community surveys conducted in the Northwest Territories that measure the importance of consumption and production of traditional country food along several margins. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, we show that two transitions associated with the Nutrition North Canada subsidy program – the transition from Food Mail to Nutrition North in 2011- 2012 and the expansion of subsidy eligibility to new communities in 2016 – had a zero or positive impact on these outcomes. We use price and quantity data from multiple sources to provide evidence on mechanisms and find support for an interpretation based on country foods having a high income elasticity and low substitutability with store-bought meat and other foods.
Title: Impact of maternal education on children’s nutritional status and early childhood development: An instrumental variable approach
Author: Moriam Khanam (Dalhousie University)
Title: School Disruptions, Parental Employment and Earnings: Evidence from Canada
Author: Zihao Sheng* (Dalhousie University), Casey Warman (Dalhousie University), Marie Connolly (Université du Québec à Montréal)
Abstract: We investigate how COVID-19 school disruptions affected parents’ labour market outcomes in Canada using experimental methods. Our study not only examines school closures and reopenings but also accounts for other COVID-19 policies that might affect labour supply and labour market outcomes, providing a comprehensive understanding of the pandemic’s multifaceted impact on the labour market. In addition to examining the effects on both the intensive and extensive margins, we explore various other impacts, including the use of government support programs such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), and Employment Insurance (EI). We also assess the influence of school disruptions on earnings utilizing longitudinal administrative data. Further, we investigate the effect of labour market disruptions on the type of occupation held. Finally, we analyse the family dynamics, focusing on how households navigate trade-offs between work and investing in their child’s education during school disruptions.
