Stephen Law

Professor

slaw@mta.ca

Office

AVDX G20

Office hours

By appointment

Biography

As an instructor, I want to pass on my interest in using theoretical and empirical economic models to gain insight into the economic questions we care about. Teaching for me is like going to the beach and leaping about from one cool spot to the next interesting tide pool: “Look over here!” … “Now look over here!”

As a researcher, I have worked on many topics including economic determinants of political attitudes, food prices and nutrient price indexes; cancer treatment evaluation; pharmaceutical formularies; real options analysis; intellectual property rights; competition policy; and regulatory economics.

Publications

Clark, J. Stephen, Stephen M. Law, Qingsong Tian, Yan Yu, O. Ludwig Dittrich & Barry Watson (2025) “Expected Impacts of COVID-19 on the BMI of Canadian Adults through Food Prices, Physical Activity, Employment”, Atlantic Economic Journal, Vol. 53, Issue 4, Dec. 2025, 253-272.

Kayahan, Burç, Stephen Law, and Barry Watson (2024) “The Marshall Decisions and Economic Well-Being Indicators in Atlantic Canadian Communities” Journal of New Brunswick Studies / Revue d,études Sur Le Nouveau-Brunswick, Vol. 16, No.1, 111-114.

Watson, Barry, Stephen Law, and Lars Osberg (2022), “Are Populists Insecure About Themselves or About Their Country? Political Attitudes and Economic Perceptions” Social Indicators Research, Volume 159, Issue 2, January 2022, 667-705.

Kayahan, Burç, Stephen Law, Isaiah Bishop, and Barry Watson (2021) “Relative Rankings of Communities in New Brunswick Using Community Well-Being Indicators from the Census”, Atlantic Canada Economics Review / Revue d’Économie du Canada, Vol. 2, 1-23.

Clark, Stephen J., Ludwig O. Dittrich, Stephen M. Law, Dana Stará, and Miroslav Barták (2019) “Food Prices, Taxes, and Obesity in Canada and Implications for Food Taxation”, E + M Economics and Management, Volume XXII, No. 1, pp. 22-35.

Haghiri, Morteza, Stephen M. Law, and Alireza Simchi (2016) "Testing for Input Separability in the Canadian CATV Industry: An Application of Generalized Mixed Models" British Journal of Economics, Management and Trade, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2016, BJEMT 28214.

Clark, J. Stephen, O. Ludwig Dittrich, Stephen M. Law and Qin Xu (2014) “Nutrient Prices, Health, and Socio-Economic Determinants of the Body Mass Index of Canadians” International Advances in Economic Research, Vol. 20, August 2014, 249-258.

Law, Stephen M. (2014) "Assessing the Averch-Johnson-Wellisz Effect for Regulated Utilities" International Journal of Economics and Finance, Volume 6, Number 8, August 2014.

Haghiri, Morteza, Stephen M. Law, James F. Nolan and Alireza Simchi (2013) “Comparing Nonparametric to Parametric Interaction Terms in Generalized Additive Models: Production Technology in the Canadian Cable Television Industry” International Journal of Data Analysis Techniques and Strategies, Vol. 5, No. 3, 229-251.

Haghiri, Morteza, Stephen M. Law and James F. Nolan (2012) “Non-parametric Estimates of Technology Using Generalized Additive Models: The Case of the Canadian Cable Television Industry” International Journal of Economics and Finance, Vol. 4, No. 1, January 2012, 36-47.

Law, Stephen M., Morteza Haghiri, and James F. Nolan (2010) "Determining the relative efficiency of cancer treatments in Nova Scotia using the patient as the unit of analysis", Research Note, Canadian Journal of Regional Science, Vol. 33, No. 3, 163-176.

Hollis, Aidan & Stephen Law (2004) "A National Formulary for Canada" Canadian Public Policy, Vol. 30, No.4, December 2004, 445-452.

Law, Stephen M., Alexandra E. MacKay and James F. Nolan (2004) "Rail Infrastructure Management Policy: Applying Real Options Methodology" Public Works Management & Policy, Vol. 9, No. 2, October 2004, 145-153.

Law, Stephen M. (2004) “Inter-Temporal Tie-Ins: A Case for Tying Intellectual Property Through Licensing” International Journal of the Economics for Business, Vol. 11, No. 1, February 2004, 3-26.

Law, Stephen M. and James F. Nolan (2003) “Unintended and Persistent Consequences of Regulation: The Case of Cable Television in Canada” Journal of Network Industries, Competition and Regulation, Vol. 4, No. 4, Dec. 2003, 389-408.

Law, Stephen M., Alexandra E. MacKay, and James F. Nolan “Using Financial Options to Hedge Transportation Capacity in a Deregulated Rail Industry” Chapter 8 (pages 168-191) in Innovations in Financial and Economic Networks, Anna Nagurney, ed., Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003.

Law, Stephen M. and Weiqiu Yu (2003) “Cost Savings from Subsidized Pro-Active Pharmacist Interventions”, Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vol. 6, No. 1, January-April 2003, 84-94.

Law, Stephen M. and James F. Nolan (2002) “The Impact of Regulation: A Study of Canadian Basic Cable Television” Review of Industrial Organization, Vol. 21, No. 3, Nov. 2002, 231-249.

Law, Stephen M. (2002) “The Problem of Market Size for Canadian Cable Television Regulation” Applied Economics, Vol.34, No.1, Jan. 2002, 87–99.

Law, Stephen M. (1999) “Holding the Line: The CRTC and the Pricing of Basic Canadian Cable Television Services” Canadian Journal of Economics, Vol. 32, No. 2, May 1999, 294-317.

Education

Ph.D. (Economics) University of Toronto, 1997.
M.A. (Economics) University of Toronto, 1989.
B.A. (Economics) University of British Columbia, 1986.

Teaching

Fall 2026
ECON 1001 Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 3711 Labour-Management Relations

Winter 2027
ECON 1001 Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 3901 International Trade

Research

"Did COVID-19 change the political implications of economic insecurity in the USA?” with Lars Osberg and Barry Watson.

“Intergenerational Income Mobility and the Feelings of White People” with Lars Osberg and Barry Watson.

“Re-Examining Economic Well-Being Indicators in Atlantic Canadian Communities” with Burç Kayahan and Barry Watson.

“BMI in the Atlantic Bubble Compared to the Rest of Canada: Differences in Pre-pandemic Effects of Eating, Physical Activity, and Employment” with Ludwig Dittrich, Qingsong Tian, and Yan Yu.

“BMI-Food Price Elasticities from Quantile Estimation Techniques” with Ludwig Dittrich, Qingsong Tian, Barry Watson and Yan Yu.

Grants, awards & honours

Lay Member of the Competition Tribunal, Federal Court of Canada, 2019-2026, 2026–

Director, Atlantic Canada Economics Association (ACEA), 2010-2024.

Trustee, Canadian Association of University Teachers Defence Fund, 2019-2024.

Chief Negotiator, 51��Ƶ Allison Faculty Association (MAFA), 2019-2020, 2016-2017, 2010-2011.

Donald Savage Award (collective bargaining), Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), 2019.

Nicole Raymond Award (post-secondary education), Federation of New Brunswick Faculty Associations (FNBFA), 2019.

SSHRC Partnership Grant (collaborator/co-applicant), “Network to Study Productivity in Canada from a Firm-Level Perspective”, CAnadian Network for the Firm-Level Analysis of Productivity (CANFLAP), 2016-2021.

President, 51��Ƶ Allison Faculty Association (MAFA), 2011-2013.

Expert Group, National Health Expenditures (NHEx), Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), 1998-2013.

SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (collaborator/co-applicant), "Building a Network to Study Productivity in Canada from a Firm-Level Perspective", 2012-2015.

Vice-President, President, Past-President, Atlantic Canada Economics Association (ACEA), 2003-2009.

Paul Paré Excellence Award, 51��Ƶ Allison University, 2005.

Research Associate, Institute for Policy Analysis, University of Toronto, 2005-2006.

Visiting Professor, School of Graphics Communication Management, Ryerson University, 2005-2006.

New Brunswick Innovation Fund (collaborator/co-applicant), “Risk Management in the Face of Industrial Deregulation”, 2003.

Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada (collaborator/co-applicant), “The Costs of Electronic Publishing of Scholarly Works”, 2000.

Prescription Drug Program of the New Brunswick Ministry of Health and Community Services (collaborator/co-applicant), “Alternative Reimbursement for Pharmacy Services: Cost-Savings from the Provision of Cognitive Services”, 1998 (Phase I), 1999 (Phase II).

National Cancer Institute of Cancer, Regional Research Development Program (collaborator/co-applicant), “Socio-Economic Aspects of Cancer Control”, 1997-2002.

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