SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

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Prof Morris Altman

Prof of Behavioural Economics,
School of Economics and Finance

Phone: 04 463 6961
Email: address
Street Address: Room 305, Rutherford House 23 Lambton Quay, Pipitea Campus
Nearest Fax: 04 463 5014

Prof Morris Altman

Qualifications

BA (Hons) MA PhD McGill University

CV

Click here for CV details

Research Interests

Since 1984 I’ve taught undergraduate and graduate courses and supervised MA and PhD students (the latter while at the University of Ottawa). I’ve taught in traditional core areas of economics with more emphasis on microeconomic theory. I’ve also taught and developed courses in labor economics, pay inequality, development economics, behavioral economics (with some emphasis on experimental economics), economic history and the history of economic thought. Most recently, my teaching and supervisory focus has been on behavioral/experimental economics. At the University of Saskatchewan, my home base from 1988 until May 2008, I supervised over 10 MA theses and served on numerous MA thesis and project committees.

Publications

Books and Monographs

  • Labor Market Theory and Policy for the New Millenium: The Economics of High Wage Competitive Labor Markets. M.E. Sharpe Publishers, Armonk, New York (2007).
  • Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy: Choices, Constraints and Opportunities in the Market Economy. Routledge: London, New York (2007).
  • Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Developments. M.E. Sharpe Publishers, Armonk, New York (2006).
  • Worker Satisfaction and Economic Performance. M.E. Sharpe Publishers, Armonk, New York (2001).
  •  Hölzl, Erik; Kirchler,Erich: Meier, Katja; Rodler, Christa & Thanawala, Kishor (Eds.). Fairness & Cooperation, IAREP/SABE 2000 Conference Proceedings. WUV/Universitätsverlag: Vienna, Austria.
  • Human Agency and Material Welfare: Revisions in Microeconomics and their Implications for Public Policy, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Boston, Dordrecht, London (1996).
  • Labour and the Communications Industry in Canada, Canadian Federation of Printing Trade Unions, Montreal (1979).

Reprints

  • Book chapter in Leading Contemporary Economists: Economics at the Cutting Edge, ed. Steven Pressman (Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2009), pp. 164-205.
  • 'The Nobel Prize in Behavioral and Experimental Economics: A Contextual and Critical Appraisal of the Contributions of Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith', Review of Political Economy, 16 (2004), pp. 3-41.
  • Book chapter in Atlantic Trade in European Expansion, ed. Susan Socolow (London: Variorum, 1997).
  • 'Economic Growth, Economic Structure, and Real Gross Domestic Product in Early Canada, 1695-1739: Estimates and Analysis' (a reprint), William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 45 (1988), pp. 684-711.
  • Book chapter in Approaches in Canadian Economic History, eds., H. Grant and M.H. Watkins, revised edition (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1992).
  • 'A Revision of Canadian Economic Growth: 1870-1910 (a challenge to the gradualist interpretation)', reprinted from The Canadian Journal of Economics, 20, 1 (1987), pp. 86- 113.
  • Book chapter in The Economics of Location, eds., Melvin L. Greenhut and George Norman, in The International Library of Critical Writings in Economics Series, series ed., Mark Blaug (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1994).
  • 'Resource Endowments and Location Theory in Economic History: A Case Study of Quebec and Ontario at the Turn of the Twentieth Century' (a reprint), Journal of Economic History, 46 (1986), pp. 999-1009.

Refereed Articles

  • 'Prospect Theory' in Behavioral Finance (Robert Kolb Finance Series), edited by Kevin Baker and John Nofsinger. New York: Wiley (forthcoming).
  • 'A Behavioral-Institutional Model of Endogenous Growth and Induced Technical Change', Journal of Economic Issues, 63 (2009), pp. 685-713.
  • 'History and Theory of Cooperatives' in International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, edited by Helmut Anheier & Stefan Toepler (New York: Springer, 2009).
  • 'Behavioral Economics, Economic Theory and Public Policy', Australasian Journal of Economic Education (forthcoming, 50 pp.).
  • 'Towards a Theory of Induced Institutional Change: Power, Labor Markets, and Institutional Change' in Nicholas Mercuro and Sandra S. Batie (eds.), Alternative Institutional Structures (London: Routledge, 2008), pp. 300-329.
  • 'How much economic freedom is necessary for economic growth? Theory and evidence', Economics Bulletin, 15, 2 (2008), pp. 1-20.
  • 'Economic Growth, ‘Globalisation’ and Labour Power', Global Business and Economics Review, 9 (2007), pp. 297-318.
  • 'The Economics of Flexible Work Scheduling: Theoretical Advances and Contemporary Paradoxes' (with Golden L) in Beth Rubin, ed., Research in the Sociology of Work: Workplace Temporalities, 17 (2007), pp. 313-341.
  • 'Behavioral Economics'  in William A. Darity, ed., International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd edition. 9 (Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2008).
  • 'Effort Discretion and Economic Agency and Behavioral Economics: Transforming Economic Theory and Public Policy' in Roger Frantz, ed., Renaissance in Behavioural Economics Harvey Leibenstein's Impact of Contemporary Economic Analysis (New York: Routledge, 2007), about 55 pp.
  • 'What a Difference an Assumption Makes: Effort Discretion, Economic Theory, and Public Policy' in Morris Altman, ed., Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Developments (Armonk, New York, 2006), pp. 125-164.
  • 'Introduction: Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Development' in Morris Altman, ed., Handbook of Contemporary Behavioral Economics: Foundations and Developments (Armonk, New York, 2006), pp. xv-xxii.
  • 'Opening-up the objective function: choice behavior and economic and non-economic variables—core and marginal altruism', Economics Bulletin, 4, 33 (2006), pp. 1- 11, URL: http://economicsbulletin.vanderbilt.edu/2006/volume4/EB-06D00022A.pdf.
  • 'Human Agency and Free Will: Choice and Determinism in Economics', International Journal of Social Economics, 33 (2006), pp. 677-697.
  • 'Involuntary Unemployment, Macroeconomic Policy, and a Behavioral Model of the Firm: Why High Real Wages Need Not Cause High Unemployment', Research in Economics, 60 (2006), pp. 97–111.
  • 'Workers Cooperatives as an Alternative Competitive Organizational Form', Advances in the Economic Analysis of Participatory and Labor-Managed Firms, 9 (2006), pp. 213-235.
  • 'A Behavioral Theory of the State' in S. Pressman (ed.), Alternative Theories of the State (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 164-190.
  • 'Behavioral Economics, Rational Inefficiencies, Fuzzy Sets, and Public Policy', Journal of Economic Issues, 34 (2005), pp. 683-706.
  • 'Staples and Staple Theory' in John J. McCusker, ed., History of World Trade since 1450, New York: Gale/Macmillan.
  • Altman, Morris (forthcoming 2005).
  • 'Protection Costs' in John J. McCusker, ed., History of World Trade since 1450 (New York: Gale/Macmillan, 2005).
  • 'Reconciling Altruistic, Moralistic, and Ethical Behavior with the Rational Economic Agent and Competitive Markets', Journal of Economic Psychology, 26 (2005), pp. 732-757.
  • 'The Economics of Ethics Revisited and Importance of Economics: A Response to the Critics', Journal of Economic Psychology, 26 (2005), pp. 774-778.
  • 'The Efficiency and Employment Enhancing Effects of Social Welfare', in Margaret Oppenheimer and Nicholas Mercuro, eds., Law and Economics: Alternative Economic Approaches to Legal And Regulatory Issues (Armong, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005), pp. 257-285.
  • 'Alternative Economic Approaches to Analyzing Hours of Work Regulation and Reform' (with Golden L) in Margaret Oppenheimer and Nicholas Mercuro, eds., Law and Economics: Alternative Economic Approaches to Legal And Regulatory Issues (Armong, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2005), pp. 286-307.
  • 'Statistical Significance, Path Dependency, and the Culture of Journal Publication', Journal of Socio-Economics, 33 (2004), pp. 651-663.
  • 'Why Unemployment Insurance Might Not Only Good For the Soul, it Might Also Be Good for the Economy', Review for Social Economy, 62 (2004), pp. 517-541.
  • 'The Nobel Prize in Behavioral and Experimental Economics: A Contextual and Critical Appraisal of the Contributions of Daniel Kahneman and Vernon Smith', Review of Political Economy, 16 (2004), pp. 3-41.
  • 'Gender, Human Capabilities and Culture Within the Household Economy: Different Path to Socio-Economic Well-Being?' (with Lamontagne, L), International Journal of Socio-Economics,  31 (2004), pp. 325-364.
  • 'On the Natural Intelligence of Women in a World of Constrained Choice: How the Feminization of Clerical Work Contributed to Gender Pay Equality in Early Twentieth Century Canada' (with Lamontagne, L), Journal of Economic Issues, 37 (2003), pp. 1045-1074.
  • 'Staple Theory and Export-Led Growth: Constructing Differential Growth', Australian Economic History Review, 43 (2003), pp. 230-255.
  • 'Economic Growth and Income Equality: Implications of a Behavioral Model of Economic Growth for Public Policy', Canadian Public Policy, 24 (2003), pp. S87-S118.
  • 'Economic Theory, Public Policy and the Challenge of Innovative Work Practices', Economic and Industrial Democracy: An International Journal, 23 (2002), pp. 271-290.
  • 'Over-Supply Of Labor: Behavioral Economic Roots Of Labor Supply, Overwork and Overemployment' (with Golden L), Global Business & Economics Review - Anthology 2002.
  • 'A Revisionist View of the Economic Implications of Child Labor Regulations', Forum for Social Economics, 30 (2001), pp. 1-23.
  • 'Quantitative Aspects of Canadian Growth and Development, 1850- 1926' in Rod Macleod, ed., Canada: Confederation to Present' (Edmonton: Chinook Multimedia, 2001).
  • 'Quebec’s Place in Confederation' in Rod Macleod, ed., Canada: Confederation to Present, (Edmonton: Chinook Multimedia, 2001).
  • 'When Green Isn’t Mean: Economic Theory and the Heuristics of the Impact of Environmental Regulations on Competitiveness and Opportunity Cost', Ecological Economics, 36 (2001), pp. 31-44.
  • 'Preferences and Labor Supply: Casting Some Light into the Black Box of Income-Leisure Choice', Journal of Socio-Economics, 30 (2001), pp. 199-219.
  • 'Culture, Human Agency, and Economic Theory: Culture as a Determinant of Material Welfare', Journal of Socio-Economics, 30 (2001), pp. 379-391.
  • 'Convergence', Jonathan Michie, ed., Reader’s Guide to the Social Sciences (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001), pp.290-291.
  • 'Behavioural Economics', Jonathan Michie, ed., Reader’s Guide to the Social Sciences (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001).
  • 'Labor Rights and Labor Power and Welfare Maximization in a Market Economy: Revising the Conventional Wisdom', International Journal of Social Economics, 27 (2000), pp. 1252-1269.
  • 'A Behavioral Theory of Economic Welfare and Economic Justice: A Smithian Alternative to Pareto Optimality', International Journal of Social Economics, 27 (2000), pp. 1098-1131.
  • 'A Behavioral Model of Path Dependency: the Economics of Profitable Inefficiency and Market Failure', Journal of Socio-Economics, 29 (2000), pp. 127-145.
  • 'The Methodology of Economics and the Survivor Principle Revisited and Revised: Some Welfare and Public Policy Implications of Modeling the Economic Agent', Review of Social Economics, 57 (1999), pp. 427-449.
  • 'New Estimates of Hours of Work and Real Income from the 1880s to 1930: Long Run Trends and Workers’ Preferences', The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 45 (1999), pp. 353-372.
  • 'A Theory of Population Growth When Women Really Count', Kyklos, 52 (1999), pp. 27-43.
  • 'X-Efficiency' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 1271-1273.
  • 'Social Capacity and Convergence' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 1033-1035.
  • 'Williamson's Analysis of the Corporation' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 1251-1254.
  • 'Free Trade and Protectionism' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 372-375.
  • 'Maddison's Analysis of Growth and Development' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 681-684.
  • 'Labour Market and Market Power' in Phillip O'Hara, ed., Encyclopedia of Political Economy (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 643-645.
  • 'Land Tenure, Ethnicity and the Condition of Agricultural Income and Productivity in Mid-Nineteenth Century Quebec', Agricultural History, 72 (1999), pp. 708-762.
  • 'Staple Theory of Economic Growth', Jonathan Michie, ed., Reader’s Guide to the Social Sciences (London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999).
  • 'High Path to Economic Growth and Development', Challenge: the Magazine of Economic Affairs, 41 (1998), pp. 91-104.
  • 'Gender Pay Inequality and Occupational Change in Canada, 1900-1930' (with Lamontagne L), Journal of Socio-Economics, 25 (1996), pp. 285-309.
  • 'Labour Productivity in Late Nineteenth Century Quebec and Ontario Manufacturing: Explaining Ontario's Advantage', American Journal of Canadian Studies, 25 (1995), pp. 219-249.
  • 'Labor Market Discrimination, Pay Inequality, and Effort Variability: An Alternative to the Neoclassical Model', Eastern Economic Journal, 21 (1995), pp. 157-169.
  • 'Economic Growth and Business Cycle Variability: 1870-1986', Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 17 (1995), pp. 561-577.
  • 'Canada in the International Economy from an Historical Perspective', The Association for Canadian Studies Bulletin (1995), Spring: 22 & 28.
  • 'The Evolution of Plant Size in Canadian Manufacturing, 1870-1910', Canadian Historical Review, 75 (1994), pp. 557-585.
  • 'Human Agency as a Determinant of Material Welfare', Journal of Socio-Economics, 22 (1993), pp. 199-218.
  • 'Revised Real GNP Estimates and Canadian Economic Development', The Review of Income and Wealth, Series 38, 4 (1992), pp. 455-473.
  • 'The Volatility of Business Cycles in Developed Market Economies, 1870-1986: Revisions and Conjectures', Eastern Economic Journal, 18 (1992), pp. 259-275.
  • 'The Economics of Exogenous Increases in Wage Rates in a Behavioral/X-Efficiency Model of the Firm', Review of Social Economy, 50 (1992), pp. 163-192.
  • 'Interfirm, Interregional, and International Differences in Labor Productivity: Variations in the Levels of `X-Inefficiency' as a Function of Differential Labor Costs' in Mark Perlman and Klaus Weiermair, eds., Studies in Economic Rationality: XEfficiency Examined and Extolled (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1990), pp. 323-350.
  • 'A Critical Appraisal of Corporate Bigness and the Transactions Cost Economizing Paradigm' in Roger Frantz, ed., Handbook on Behavioral Economics 2A (JBI Press, 1990), pp. 217-232.
  • 'Railways as an Engine of Economic Growth? Who Benefited from the Canadian Railway Boom, 1870-1910?', Histoire sociale/Social History (1989), pp. 269-281.
  • 'The Economy of Colonial America: The Debate Over Real Per Capita Income Estimates', Histoire sociale/Social History (1988), pp. 337-342.
  • 'Economic Growth, Economic Structure, and Real Gross Domestic Product in Early Canada, 1695-1739: Estimates and Analysis',  William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd series, 45 (1988), pp. 684-711.
  • 'Economic Development With High Wages: An Historical Perspective', Explorations in Economic History, 25 (1988), pp. 198-224.
  • 'Further Notes on the Economic Burden of the Seigniorial System of Land Tenure in New France: 1688-1739', Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 14 (1987), pp. 135-142.
  • 'A Revision of Canadian Economic Growth, 1870-1910: A Critique of the Gradualist Approach', Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, 20 (1987), pp. 86-113.
  • 'Resource Endowments and Location Theory in Economic History: A Case Study of Quebec and Ontario at the Turn of the Twentieth Century', Journal of Economic History, 46 (1986), pp. 999-1009.
  • 'Seigniorial Tenure in New France, 1688-1739: An Essay on Income Distribution and Retarded Economic Development', Historical Reflections/Réflexions historiques, 10 (1983), pp. 335-375.

Book Reviews

  • A Review of: ‘Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism’ by S.M. Amadae, Journal of Economic Literature, 43 (2005).
  • A Review of: ‘Preference Pollution: How Markets Create the Desires We Dislike’ by David George, Eastern Economic Review, 29 (2003).
  • A Review of: ‘Human Firm: A Socio-Economic Analysis of Behavior and Potential in a New Economic Age’ by John Tomer, Review of Social Economy, 61 (2003), pp. 24-128.
  • A Review of ‘The Record of Global Economic Development’, by Eric L. Jones, EH.NET BOOK REVIEW (2003).
  • A Review of ‘Divergent Paths: How Culture and Institutions Have Shaped North American Growth’ by Marc Egnal, Business History Review (1997), pp. 613-616.
  • A Review of ‘Profits and Politics: Beaverbrook and the Gilded Age of Canadian Finance’ by Gregory P. Marchildon, Business History Review (1997), pp. 130-132.
  • A Review of 'A History of Canadian Economic Thought' by Robin Neill, Canadian Historical Review, 74 (1993), pp. 643-645.
  • A Review of `Maritime Capital, The Shipping Industry in Atlantic Canada, 1820-1914' by Eric W. Sager with Gerald E. Panting, Journal of Economic History, 53 (1993), pp. 703-704.
  • A Review of `The Rise and Fall? of Montreal' by Benjamin Higgins, Journal of Economic History, 47 (1987), pp. 290-291.
  • 'A Review of `Évolution et éclatement du monde rural' sous la direction de Joseph Goy et Jean-Pierre Wallot', Actualité économique, (1987).