Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
ERG (Econometrics Reading Group) - Sebastien Montpetit
S茅bastien Montpetit will present his work-in-progress methodological projects in IO/public/environment
Title: Are Climate Policies Marginal? A Welfare Evaluation of Environmental Reforms (with Jean-Fran莽ois Fournel)
Abstract: Which climate investments should policymakers prioritize? We develop a framework that combines the Marginal Value of Public Funds (MVPF) with structural models of demand for green technologies to evaluate the welfare effects of environmental reforms. Our approach traces the MVPF across the entire policy spectrum using counterfactual simulations, thereby relaxing the constant-elasticity and 鈥渟mall-change鈥� assumptions of sufficient-statistics methods. We apply our methodology to the Canadian electric vehicle market, following Fournel (2025). The analysis reveals strong nonlinearities in the cost-effectiveness of electric vehicle incentives: initial subsidies yield substantial welfare gains, but diminishing returns make large subsidies inefficient. At average subsidy levels, we estimate an MVPF of 1.07, indicating modest social returns. Counterfactual simulations suggest that investing in charging-station deployment generates the highest welfare gains, while taxing fuel-inefficient vehicles is not an efficient funding source.