Paul Thomassin

Biography

Professor Thomassin is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at McGill University. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and his B.Sc. (Agr.) from McGill University. 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 McGill 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.

Research Interest

Professor Thomassin's research investigates the economics of agricultural and environmental policies. This includes such areas as: changes in management practices to decrease pollution; climate change; the importance of food attributes; and food safety. Some of the 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?