International and Development Studies
Introduction
The John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy (JDI) was
founded in 1976 to honour the memory of John Deutsch, renowned Canadian
economist, Queen’s alumnus, public servant, and former Principal
of Queen’s University, by carrying on the tradition that he had
espoused and practiced over his career. The Institute’s central
purpose is to promote research and informed discussion of Canadian economic
policy issues and to foster the improvement of training in and understanding
of such issues. To this end, the JDI’s main activity has been to
sponsor conferences on current economic policy issues with participants
from government, academia, and the private sector. The JDI publishes a
volume (distributed through McGill-Queen’s Press) from each of these
conferences, and these publications are highly regarded and widely circulated.
It also publishes occasional research monographs, invited lectures, and
more technical discussion papers, as well as sponsoring an annual David
C. Smith Visitorship to the Economics Department at Queen’s. The
JDI builds on a long tradition of interest and participation by Queen’s
economists and other scholars in national policy issues in Canada, and
its approach ensures a continuing emphasis on independence and quality
of research, analysis and training.
A
Profile of John Deutsch
John James Deutsch, the first chairman of the Economic Council of Canada
and a former principal of Queen’s University, was a native of Quinton,
Saskatchewan. Dr. Deutsch, the eldest of 17 children in a Prairie farm
family, worked his way through college. A brilliant student, he graduated
from Regina’s Campion College and was a member of its teaching staff
from 1930 to 1933 while doing extramural work at the University of Saskatchewan.
He won a scholarship to Queen’s and graduated in 1934 with a degree
in commerce and economics.
He continued postgraduate work in economics until, in 1936 at age 25,
he became a research assistant at the newly formed Bank of Canada. A year
later he was lent to the Rowell-Sirois Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial
Relations and soon became the Commission’s research director. After
the Commission reported in 1940, Dr. Deutsch went back to Queen’s
to teach economics, but soon was appointed secretary of the newly formed
Canada-United States economic committee. He served later as wartime assistant
to Deputy Minister of External Affairs and helped establish Canada’s
National Selective Service program.
When the war ended John Deutsch became an editorial writer for the Winnipeg
Free Press but within a year was back in the federal field as Secretary
to a Royal Commission charged with classifying senior positions in the
civil service. In 1947 Prime Minister MacKenzie King picked Dr. Deutsch
to negotiate, in secret, a trade agreement with the United States. Deutsch
apparently succeeded in negotiating a sweeping liberalization of Canada-U.S.
trade, only to have King reject it.
In 1953 he became Director of the International Economic Relations division
of the Finance Department, a role that gave him the rank of Assistant
Deputy Minister. Later the same year he became Secretary of the Treasury
Board in Ottawa. But having reached the top in the federal civil service,
he yearned for a return to the academic world. In December 1955, Dr. Deutsch
accepted a professorship in the Economics Department at the University
of British Columbia. He was soon named head of the department, and he
served in that post until 1959 when he returned to Queen’s as Vice-Principal,
Administration. Four years later he returned to Ottawa as Chairman of
the newly created Economic Council of Canada, an advisory body that took
on the role of prodding successive governments into new directions of
economic policy. He stayed with the Council until the fall of 1967 when
he became principal-elect of Queen’s, succeeding Dr. J.A. Corry
as principal in 1968. Dr. Deutsch retired from the Principalship in 1974,
but continued on as a professor of Economics, a post he held until his
death in 1976.
Publications
The John Deutsch Institute has concentrated on organizing and running
an extensive series of conferences, policy forums and roundtables on Canadian
economic policy issues. Recent conferences/roundtables and publications
have been on Retirement Policy Issues in Canada (edited
by Michael G. Abbott, Charles M. Beach, Robin W. Boadway and James G.
MacKinnon), The 2006 Federal Budget: Rethinking Fiscal
Priorities (edited by Charles M. Beach, Michael Smart and Thomas A.
Wilson), Health Services Restructuring in Canada: New
Evidence and New Directions (edited by Charles M. Beach, Richard P.
Chaykowski, Sam Shortt, France St-Hilaire, and Arthur Sweetman), A
Challenge for Higher Education in Ontario
(edited by Charles M. Beach), Current Directions in Financial
Regulation
(edited by F. Milne and E.H. Neave), Higher Education in Canada
(edited by C.M.
Beach, R.W. Boadway and R.M. McInnis), Financial Services and Public
Policy
(edited by C. Waddell), The 2003 Federal Budget: Conflicting
Tensions (edited by C.M. Beach and T.A. Wilson),
Canadian Immigration Policy for the 21st
Century (edited by C.M. Beach, A.G. Green and J.G. Reitz),
Framing Financial
Structure in an Information Environment (edited by T.J. Courchene
and E.H. Neave), Towards Evidence-Based Policy for Canadian
Education (edited by Patrice de Broucker and Arthur Sweetman),
The 2000 Federal
Budget: Retrospect and Prospect (edited by P.A.R. Hobson and T.A.
Wilson), Money, Markets and Mobility: Celebrating the Ideas of Robert
A. Mundell, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (edited by T.J. Courchene),
and The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David
Slater (edited by Patrick Grady and Andrew Sharpe). Other recent
publications include: Equalization: Its Contribution to Canada's Economic
and Fiscal Progress (edited by R.W. Boadway and P.A.R. Hobson), Transition
and Structural Change in the North American Labour Market (edited
by M.G. Abbott, C.M. Beach and R.P. Chaykowski), Fiscal Targets and
Economic Growth (edited by T.J. Courchene and T.A. Wilson), The
Nation State in a Global/Information Era: Policy Challenges (edited
by T.J. Courchene), Room to Manoeuvre? Globalization and Policy Consequence
(edited by T.J. Courchene), and Women and Work (edited by R.P.
Chaykowski and L.M. Powell). A full list of JDI publications available
is obtained by clicking on "Publications" on this webpage. The John
Deutsch Institute thus helps to link economists at Queen's and elsewhere
to the broader public policy community in Canada, and to foster inquiry
into major current economic policy issues that Canada is facing.
International
and Development Studies
A second part of the Institute's activities has been projects in international
and development studies. Since 1987, under the initiative of Professor
Frank Flatters, the JDI has managed programs in collaboration with the
Malaysian Institute of Economic Research and the Thailand Development
Research Institute. The aim of both of these projects has been to assist
in the development of these organizations as first-class policy research
institutes. To this end, the JDI has helped forge linkages between these
institutes and various policy researchers at institutions in Canada, and
disseminated research findings through conferences and publications. Since
2000, the JDI international arm has also begun to organize and run annual
summer training courses in project evaluation and risk analysis aimed
at professionals from developing countries. The courses have been run
under the direction of Dr. Glenn Jenkins, formerly of the Harvard Institute
for International Development, and sponsored jointly through the World
Bank, and involve prominent researchers from the Harvard Institute for
International Development, Harvard Business School, the World Bank, the
Kennedy School in Cambridge MA, Berkeley campus of the University of California,
and the Economics Department at Queen's University. This program has been
heavily subscribed and we expect to expand its activities in the future.
Clearly, Canadian-based training opportunities are highly valued in the
developing world. To find out more about the program, click on the "John
Deutsch International" link in the "Links" heading on this webpage.
Members
Information
The John Deutsch Institute is headed by a Director.
Professor Christopher Ferrall of the Queen’s Economics Department
became the new Director as of July 2009. Charles M. Beach served as
Director of the
JDI from 2001 to 2009. Douglas D. Purvis served as Director
from 1984
to 1987 and then from 1990 until his untimely death in early
1993. From
1993 to 2001, Thomas J. Courchene was Director. All members of
the Queen's
Department of Economics are members of the John Deutsch
Institute, as
are a number of economists from outside Queen’s and some
scholars
from cognate departments at Queen’s University. The
Institute is
served by an Advisory Board. A new Advisory Board will be
established in Fall 2009.
