Ian completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia before working as a post-doctoral research fellow at McGill University for two years. He was hired as an Assistant Professor at Queen's in 2000, and he has been a visiting professor at Yale University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Vancouver School of Economics at UBC. His research focuses on North American economic history, environmental and natural resource economics, and law and economics. His papers cover diverse topics, including policy and growth responses to globalization, induced technological change, natural resource-led growth, and the economic impact of the recognition of Indigenous rights in Canada. At Queen's Ian has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on North American and international economic history, and environmental and ecological economics.
Selected Publications
- “Globalization and the Spread of Industrialization in Canada, 1871–1891,” with Taylor Jaworski, Explorations in Economic History, forthcoming.
- "Regulating Natural Monopolies in Canada," in Regulatory Failure and Renewal: The Evolution of the Natural Monopoly Contract, by John R. Baldwin, 2022, McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- "Recognizing Indigenous Rights in Canada: Property Rights and Natural Resource Values," with Cherie Metcalf, Canadian Public Policy, March 2021, 47:1, 18-55.
- "Trade Protection for Maturing Industries: Canadian Trade Patterns and Trade Policy, 1870-1913," Canadian Journal of Economics, November 2019, 52:4, 1464-95.
- "Responding to the First Era of Globalization: Canadian Trade Policy, 1870-1913," with Patrick Alexander, Journal of Economic History, September 2019, 79:3, 826-61.
- "Cliometrics and the Study of Canadian Economic History," with Frank Lewis, Handbook of Cliometrics, Vol. 2, Claude Diebolt and Michael Haupert (Eds.), 2019, Springer-Verlag.
- "A General Equilibrium Analysis of Canada's National Policy," with Patrick Alexander, Explorations in Economic History, April 2018, 68:1, 1-15.