JDI Research Associate Brock Mutic interviews Queen’s Economics Department (QED) Professor Allen Head about ongoing research and Canadian public policy

Queen’s Economics Department Professor Allen Head, in an ongoing research project in collaboration with Professor Beverly Lapham and former Queen’s Ph.D. student Dr. Alex Chernoff, has been investigating how productivity is distributed, and how consumers search for products, across the Canadian retail market. The research, in uncovering how Canadian retail prices are affected by cost pass-through and demand changes, has the potential to improve our understanding of how inflation operates in the Canadian context. This summer, the QED blog caught up with Dr. Head, in anticipation of his forthcoming research, to learn more about his exciting project. 

QED Blog: It’s great to speak with you, Professor Head. Can you please tell us a bit about your current research project? 

Dr. Allen Head (A.H): As you explained, the new research, in collaboration with Professor Lapham and Dr. Chernoff, jointly estimates the productivity distributions and consumer search processes for retail industries in Canada. We do this using detailed firm-level data on Canadian retail firms, including information on their revenue, costs of goods sold, and profits. 

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