Economics

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https://hdl.handle.net/10294/415

We are a small, but student-friendly department housed in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Regina (in southern Saskatchewan, Canada). With 9 full-time faculty members, we are able to offer most of the undergraduate courses that are standard in economics departments across Canada. We also offer an Economics and Society major. It is designed for students who aren't that interested in the mathematical and theoretical tools emphasized in traditional economics courses, but want to learn about important, real-world economic problems and current thinking about how best to address them. Joint majors in economics and administration, geography, history, and statistics are also available.

The Department also participates in the Master of Public Administration program offered through the Graduate School of Public Policy. This is a one-year program open to anyone with an undergraduate degree (in any area, not just economics) and can be taken part-time or full-time, as you choose. It is designed to furnish students with the basic skills they will need to undertake sound, quantitative analysis of contemporary public policy issues.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to get in touch by phone at (306) 585-4485, by email at econ@uregina.ca, or by mail to Department of Economics, University of Regina, Regina, Sask, Canada S4S 0A2.

For more information, visit the web site at: www.econ.uregina.ca/


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Browsing Economics by Subject "EClimate change"

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    The cost effectiveness of new reservoir hydroelectricity: British Columbia’s Site C project
    (Elsevier, 2022-09) Dolter, Brett; Fellows, G. Kent; Rivers, Nicholas
    Large-scale, reservoir hydroelectric facilities can play an important role in decarbonizing the electricity sector. However, new hydroelectric facilities are costly, and several recent projects in Canada have been subject to cost over-runs. In this paper, we develop a methodology for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of new reservoir hydroelectric projects. We apply this methodology to a case study of the Site C hydroelectric project currently under construction in British Columbia, Canada. Our approach makes use of a purpose-built linear programming capacity expansion and dispatch model, resolved at an hourly frequency and incorporating detailed treatment of balancing area requirements, available wind and solar resources, watershed constraints on hydroelectric potential, and endogenous electricity trade. Our simulations reveal that the value of the Site C project is unlikely to exceed its total cost, and only exceeds the avoidable cost of project cancellation in scenarios where BC and Alberta build additional inter-provincial transmission capacity and aim for 100% decarbonization of their electricity systems. Site C provides a cautionary tale for policymakers and planners pursuing large hydro-electric projects. Potential cost over-runs can render large hydroelectric projects uneconomic relative to alternatives. The decision to complete the Site C project is only justified by its high sunk costs.