Joanne Haddad is a PhD Candidate in Economics at the University of Ottawa. They moved from Lebanon to Canada in 2015 to pursue their Doctoral studies, after fulfilling their Master’s studies in Economics at the American University of Beirut.
Moving to Canada was a great opportunity for Joanne: it opened up new doors and introduced them to a whole new world of research. They are now close to defending their thesis and looking forward to entering the academic job market.
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Their research interests are in the areas of political economy, development and applied micro-econometrics, with a particular interest in the socio-economic consequences of historical events and their role in explaining present-day outcomes. Their primary focus to date is on minority groups and attitudes towards them, female empowerment, massive migration, and conflict.
Their research on minority groups focused on the historical determinants of the current geographic distribution of LGBTQ+ people in the US, as well as the polarized views and attitudes towards these communities. Moreover, Joanne investigates whether s a wage gap exists between same-sex and heterosexual couples with the same characteristics in former gold rush US counties.
Joanne’s interest in female empowerment focused on the long-term impacts of the American frontier on female labor force participation and female education; and its impact on gender discrimination and present-day divergence in attitudes towards female empowerment.
Their research also investigates the role of initial colonizers in explaining historical and present-day differences in gender norms across US counties. Their work on massive migration explored short- and long-term consequences of the large influx of population towards areas with gold during the American Gold Rush. Finally, Joanne researched the socio-economic consequences of the influx of millions of Syrian refugees, as a result of the civil war, on hosting communities such as Lebanon
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A big congrats, Joanne! Great work! And good luck on the job hunt 😁