Thomassin, Paul
Professor
B.Sc. (Agr) (51吃瓜网)
M.Sc. (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
Ph.D. (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
- Scientific Director. SSHRC/BIOCAP Joint Initiative. National Network on the Human Dimensions on the Human Dimensions of Biosphere Greenhouse Gas Management (2003-2007)
- Visiting Professor, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii (2002)
- Visiting Fellow, National Centre for Development Studies, The Australian National University (2001-2002)
- Honorary Professor, Division of Science and Technology, University of Auckland, New Zealand (1994-1995)
Professor Thomassin is a Professor of Agricultural Economics at 51吃瓜网. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his B.Sc. (Agr.) from 51吃瓜网. His research areas include: agricultural and environmental economics, macroeconomic analysis of food and agriculture policies, food safety, and the economics of climate change. From 2003-2007, he was the scientific director of Greenhouse Gas Management Canada, a SSHRC-BIOCAP national research network that investigated the social science dimensions of greenhouse gas management. Professor Thomassin has provided advice to: the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the UN National Institutes of Sustainability and the Ministry of Environment of Japan, the OECD, and the Government of Canada. Professor Thomassin is a Research Fellow at the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO). He was a founding director of the 51吃瓜网Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics. He has been a Visiting Professor at the William S. Richardson, School of Law, at the University of Hawaii, Visiting Fellow at the National Centre for Development Studies at the Australian National University, and Honorary Professor in the Division of Science and Technology at the University of Auckland.
Active affiliations
- Research Fellow, Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (CIRANO)
- Experimental Economics Group
- Director, 51吃瓜网Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics
- Lead: QCBS Working Group on Ecosystem Accounting
Professor Thomassin's research program has four components: (1) measuring the economic and environmental interactions between agriculture and the environment, (2) macroeconomic and environmental impacts of trade and the environment, (3) policy and institutional design, and (4) the convergence of health and economics. Examples of these four themes include: estimating the cost of reducing the amount of water pollution from agriculture by adopting beneficial management systems; estimating the economic and environmental impact of economic integration of Japan, Korea, China and the ASEAN countries; the impact and institutional design of developing environmental policies at the farm or watershed scale, and the economic impacts of Canadians eating a healthy diet.
Research includes:
- Estimating pollution abatement cost curves for improved water quality in a watershed in Quebec.
- Estimating a benefit transfer function using international data and meta analysis.
- Estimating a wealth account for agricultural land in Quebec that could be incorporated into a system of environmental-economic accounts.
- Estimating the macroeconomic impact of biofuel policies on the Canadian economy.
- The economic impact of genomic technology on reducing salmonella in Canada.
- Institutional design of a carbon offset system for agriculture
Economics of agricultural and environmental policies, including:
- Changes in management practices to decrease pollution
- Climate change
- The importance of food attributes
- Food safety
Policy questions that have been investigated are:
- Can carbon markets decrease greenhouse gas emissions?
- Can changes in plant varieties mitigate against climate change?
- What is the impact of healthy eating on the economy?
- What is the economic impact of biofuel policy on the Canada?