Economics

Working Papers:

Going Home: The Impact of COVID-19 on the BMI of Canadians Arising from Changes in Eating, Physical Activity, and Employment (with S. Clark and S. Law)

The impact of capitation on health insurance membership and the provision of care in Ghana (with B. Bayong)

Dreaming of a Brighter Future? The Impact of Economic Vulnerability on University Aspirations (with N. Kong and S. Phipps)

Community Well-being Indicators for Atlantic Canada (with B. Kayahan, S. Law, and I. Bishhop)

Recent Publications (Past 5-years):

Watson, B. & Daley, A. (Accepted). A Decomposition of Earnings and Volatility Difference Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians. Review of Income and Wealth

Daley, A., Pandey, S., Phipps, S., & Watson, B. (Accepted). Subsidies and food insecurity in remote communities: Evidence from the Food Mail Program and Nutrition North Canada. Canadian Journal of Economics.

Watson, B., Das, A., Maguire, S., Fleet, G., & Punamiya, A. (Accepted). The little intervention that could: Creative aging implies healthy aging among Canadian seniors. Aging and Mental Health.

Rohde, N., D’Ambrosio, C., & Watson, B. (2022). Econometric Methods for Measuring Economic Insecurity. Advances in Economic Measurement.

Dweik, I., Watson, B., Woodhall-Melnik, J. (2022). Publicly Subsidized Housing and Physical Health: A Literature Review. Housing Studies, 1-23.

Watson, B., Law, S., & Osberg, L. (2022). Are Populists Insecure About Themselves or About Their Country? Political Attitudes and Economic Perceptions. Social Indicators Research, 1-39.

Kayahan, B., Law, S., Bishop, I., & Watson, B. (2021). Relative Rankings of Communities in New Brunswick Using Community Well-Being Indicators from the Census. Atlantic Canada Economic Review, 2(1).

Kong, N., Phipps, S., & Watson, B. (2021). Parental Economic Insecurity and Child Health. Economics & Human Biology, 43, 101068.

Daley, A., Rahman, M., & Watson, B. (2021). A Breath of Fresh Air: The Effect of Public Smoking Bans on Indigenous Youth. Health Economics, 30(6), 1517-1539.

Watson, B., Daley, A., Rohde, N., & Osberg, L. (2020). Blown Off-Course? Unhealthy Vices of the Economically Insecure During the Great Recession. Journal of Economic Psychology, 80, 102289.

Daley, A., Rahman, M., & Watson, B. (2020). Racial/ethnic differences in light of 100% smokefree state laws: Evidence from adults in the United States. Population Health Management, 24(3), 353-359.

Watson, B. & Osberg, L. (2019). Can Positive Income Shocks Reverse the Mental Health Impacts of Negative Income Shocks? Economics & Human Biology, 35, 107-122.

Watson, B. & Osberg, L. (2018). Job Insecurity and Mental Health in Canada. Applied Economics, 50(38), 4137-4152.

Watson, B. (2018). Does Economic Insecurity Cause Weight Gain Among Canadian Labour Force Participants? Review of Income and Wealth, 64(2), 406-427.

Select Recent Conference Presentations:

2023:

From the Food Mail Program to Nutrition North Canada. 96th Annual Conference of the Western Economics Association International, San Diego, California, July 6.

An Examination of Health Care Efficiency in Canada: A Two-Stage Semi-Parametric Approach. Canadian Economics Association, Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 3.

The Marshall Decisions and Economic Well-Being Indicators in Atlantic Canadian Communities. Rough Waters: The Legacy of the Marshall Decisions Workshop, Sackville, New Brunswick, April 15.

2022:

The Impact on Food Insecurity among Indigenous and non-Indigenous Families with Children. 37th IARIW General Conference, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, August 24.

A Decomposition of Earnings & Vulnerability Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Adults in Canada. 95th Annual Conference of the Western Economics Association International, Portland, Oregon, July 1.

Does creative aging imply healthy aging? Evidence from a prospective study of Canadian seniors. Fifteenth Workshop on Costs and Assessment in Psychiatry: Mental Health Service, Economics, Policy Research, Venice, Italy, March 27.

2021:

Dreaming of a Brighter Future? The Impact of Economic Vulnerability on University Aspirations. 36th IARIW General Conference, Oslo, Norway, August 26.

2019:

Blown Off-Course? Unhealthy Vices of the Economically Insecure During the Great Recession. 35th IARIW General Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 24.

An Examination of the Five W's of Economic Insecurity. Lamington National Park - O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, Australia, July 3.

A Decomposition of Earnings & Vulnerability Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Canadians. Inequality of Opportunity Conference, Brisbane, Australia, June 28.

Funding:

2023:

SSHRC Insight Development Grant: "Nutrition North Canada" (with N. Li, T. Galloway and A. Daley) - $50,000

Rosemary Aicher Health & Environment Research Experience (HERE) Award - $10,000

2022:

New Brunswick Department of Social Development: "Addressing determinants of senior well-being and reducing social isolation" - $281,180

2020:

Mitacs: "Measuring the Economic Impact of Social Cohesion in New Brunswick" Value - $15,000

New Brunswick Department of Social Development: "Participatory Arts for Older Adults: Benefits of Creative Aging" (with A. Punamiya and G. Fleet) - $994,981

Theses Supervised:

MA: Deepty Sarder (2023), “Examining the Income Gap Between Canadian-Born and Immigrant Working Age Adults”.

BA: Caroline Pietroski (2022), “A Critical Look at Environmental Racism in Canada: An Economic Approach”.

MA: Shiqi Zhang (2022), “Tracing the Source of Inequality in Health among Canadian Residents in 2018 - An Evaluation of Inequality of Opportunity".

MA: Rebecca Chilonda (2021), “Stepping out of depression: Evaluating the effect of unconditional cash transfers on maternal mental health in South Africa”.

MA: Bintu Bayong (2021), “Effect of Capitation Payment on Membership, Outpatient Utilization and Cost Under the National Health Insurance Scheme in Ghana”.

Affiliations:

Canadian Economics Association

Atlantic Canada Economics Association

Western Economics Association International

International Association of the Review of Income and Wealth

European Association of Labour Economists

Service:

Canadian Economics Association:

2023- Board of Directors

Atlantic Canada Economics Association:

2021-23 Past President

2019-21 President

2017-19 Vice President

Dialogue New Brunswick:
2020- Expert-in-Residence

Urban and Community Studies Institute:
2018- Academic Fellow

Non-Academic Interests:

Outside of academia, Barry is an avid snowboarder and downhill mountain biker; however, his health insurer has been told he maintains a high degree of risk aversion, with a preference for certainty equivalent pistes.