LED Spotlight: Department’s Food Bank Drive & Ask an Economist Update

That’s a wrap … Laurier’s Economics Department recently wrapped up its 8^th annual fund drive, raising $7,918.80 in funds to support The Food Bank of Waterloo Region! A big shout-out to Professor Tammy Schirle for spearheading the initiative. And thanks to all donors for helping to make the fund drive a great success. The foods and funds donated through community and corporate-run food and fund drives allows the Food Bank to fill gaps in their inventory, buy food to meet diverse cultural and dietary needs, keep delivery vehicles on the road, and support many organizations that provide direct food support to people in Waterloo region accessing food assistance.

To help promote its Fund Drive, the Department ran for the first time an “Ask An Economist” event. Faculty were available on select days and times in Lazaridis Hall Atrium to answer questions that people might ask every day. Several students availed themselves of this opportunity and posed interesting, diverse, and complex questions.

Current economic uncertainties sparked several questions. Assistant Professor Monica Jain tackled the provocative question about whether having city-owned grocery stores here in Canada could help reduce grocery prices (an idea popularized by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani). Students queried Assistant Professor Stephen Snudden about financial markets and where gold prices and interest rates were headed, while Angela Trimarchi fielded questions on exchange rates and purchasing power parity. Questions about the impact of the changes in U.S. trade policy over the last year, a topic that is probably top of mind for many students and businesses alike, were addressed by the tag team of Laurier economists, Brian McCaig and Azim Essaji.

“Students were also quite interested in knowing more about our Economics programs, including graduate programs, recent placements of our graduates and the average salary for graduates with different economics degrees”, observed Associate Professor Ke Pang. Monica Jain, who also answered several career-related questions, agreed and commented that one of her key takeaways from this initiative is that “students could probably benefit from similar and more frequent informal opportunities to chat with faculty about their careers”.

Thanks to all the faculty and students who engaged with this event to make both it, and the Fund Drive, a great success.

From top left, clockwise: Christine Neill, Angela Trimarchi, Zijian Wang, and Ridwan Karim