Background
Mental and brain health disorders have become a global driver of health care spending in recent years. In parallel, growing inequality has become a serious challenge for most societies. While each phenomenon is on its own a major source of concern for decision makers and policymakers, their interactions present challenges that cannot be left unaddressed. This is especially true in the context of northern communities, where the types and the level of inequalities observed is evolving rapidly. Still, much remains to be understood about the relationship between changing income distributions, brain health trajectories, and human capital accumulation. The chair harnesses tools developed in economics, recent advances from research in psychiatry and the expertise developed within the healthcare system to study the causal links between these phenomena. This work involves close collaborations with partners from academia, from the health system as well as from clinical and social environments. It seeks to contribute to both scientific progress and to the public conversation. 

Mission
To understand the dynamics and causal relationships between income inequality, the organization of health care systems and brain health. This will help develop strategies and policies that support well-being, inclusion and social mobility, especially among vulnerable populations.

Objectives
> Explore the dynamics and causal relationships between changes in income inequality, the organization of healthcare systems, and brain health

​> Combine tools developed in economics with insights from institutional and clinical partners, specialists in psychiatry and in the neurosciences, as well as health systems administrators to identify promising policy avenues to improve mental health and socioeconomic mobility

Partners
Sentinelle Nord
Fondation CERVO
CIUSSS de la Capitale Nationale
Faculté des Sciences Sociales de l'Université Laval
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Collaborators

Luc Bissonnette

Associate professor, Department of Economic, ​Université Laval
Luc specializes in applied econometrics and data sciences, which he uses to study changing labour markets, and the challenges and opportunities brought by the fourth industrial revolution.

Vincent Boucher

Full professor, Department of Economics,
​Université Laval
Vincent’s research focuses on social interactions and social networks in economics. More specifically, he studies and develops ways to test/measure the impact of social interactions using network data.
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Kirsten Cornelson

Assistant professor, Department of Economics, University of Notre-Dame
Kirsten’s research focuses on how social interactions shape economic, health and political decisions. She also works on questions at the intersection of social and economic inequalities, public policy and health outcomes.

Bernard Fortin

Professor emeritus, Department of Economics, Université Laval
Bernard is a member of the Royal Society of Canada whose research focuses on health economics, labour economics, public economics and applied econometrics.

Marie-Hélène Gagné

Full professor, School of Psychology,
​Université Laval
Marie-Hélène's research focuses on children maltreatment in the family environment. She studies which family and community contexts are associated with child abuse and neglect, and which types of interventions can efficiently prevent these public health issues.  ​

Guy Lacroix

Full professor, ​Department of Economics, Université Laval
Guy is a specialist in program evaluation who uses cutting-edge methods in applied microeconometrics to study topics related to crime, education and health. He holds the Research Chair in Economic Evaluation of Public Programs at l’Université Laval.

Boriana Miloucheva 

Postdoctoral research associate,
​Princeton's Center for Health and Wellbeing
Boriana’s research brings together the fields of health and labour economics to understand the causes and consequences of changing trends in morbidity and mortality. She has a particular interest in health inequities and children’s mental health.  
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Students

Louis-Philippe Beaulieu

Master’s student, Department of Economics, ​Université Laval​
Louis-Philippe’s research  seeks to estimate the causal impact of the concentration of PM2.5 at the neighbourhood-level on the risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and to understand if such an impact matters at low-levels of concentration.

Abdel-Hamid Bello

Ph.D. student, Department of Economics,
​Université Laval​
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Ann-Sophie Demers

Master’s student, Department of Economics, Université Laval​
Ann-Sophie’s work seeks to understand nurses’ labour supply, their preferences for different types of working arrangements and the pressures they face in their current working environment. Her work will help propose new contract designs that aim to reduce rates of burnouts and facilitate retention and recruitment.

Josette Rosine Aniwuvi Gbeto

Ph.D. student, Department of Economics, Université Laval​
Josette studies questions at the intersection of health economics and the economics of social networks. Her current work focuses on the role of peer support in adolescents’ mental health and on the role of physician referral networks within the healthcare system.

Paul Grewar

Master’s student, Department of Economics, University of Toronto
Paul is a research assistant for the research chair. His research interests are in economic theory and applied econometrics, especially as they pertain to health. He wishes to bridge economic research and policy innovations that foster social and economic equity. 

Henri Le Jouan

Ph.D. student, Department of Economics,
​Université Laval​
Henri’s work combines tools from the health and labour economics literature to study physicians’ prescribing practices related to psychotropics and individuals’ risky health behaviour. 

Rosalie Montambeault

 Master’s student, Department of Economics, ​Université Laval​
Rosalie studies the role of inter-professional collaboration between physicians and nurse practitioners in the optimization of primary care. She is particularly interested on issues surrounding the quality and accessibility of health care services available to vulnerable populations. ​

Nicolas R. Turgeon

PhD student, School of Psychology, University of Toronto
Nicolas’ research adopts a community approach to document, at the neighbouhood-level, associations between child abuse and school readiness. His work seeks to identify local needs and to help deploy targeted strategies to support children-at-risk and their families.