UNews - Research Chair in Global Population and Economy

McDaniel earns first Tier I CRC for social sciences

trevor.kenney — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:35:12 +0000

Dr. Susan McDaniel, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Sociology Professor and Director of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, has been named a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Global Population and Economy, the first Tier 1 CRC in social sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

The seven-year, renewable appointment comes with more than $1.4 million, which will support the Prentice Institute's ever-increasing research capacity.

The funding helps McDaniel and her research colleagues look beyond numbers, and dig deeper into the complex issues that face people over the course of their lives, such as aging, income inequalities, access to health care, how global issues affect people, and policies that take aging and population shifts into consideration.

"This is an outstanding announcement for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and for Dr. McDaniel and her research teams," says Dr. Dan Weeks, the U of L's vice-president (research). "Susan has done an excellent job of putting the Prentice Institute on a trajectory that will make it a world-recognized centre. She has attracted a significant number of researchers to the Institute as research associates, which in turn has built up our graduate student component. With this new funding, Dr. McDaniel and her colleagues will be able to significantly expand on the Prentice Institute's mandate to look into population issues worldwide."

Dr. Susan McDaniel is the director of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy.

There are three areas McDaniel – and her expanding group of researchers – is examining through what she describes as life-course research. These include comparisons between Canadian and other population groups, initially in the United States; the government-supported policy steps countries such as Japan and Korea have taken to manage the challenges of an aging population; and the concept of age itself, and how factors such as economic conditions, lack of healthcare or being a refugee from a war-torn country can have on your life expectancy.

"The life-course research concept has several principles, among them that you need to follow a person through their life to get a solid picture of how they are affected by a variety of influences," says McDaniel. "We are following individuals across time because at each point in your life course, you exist in a context within a society. For example, if a person graduates from high school or university at a time when the economy is not healthy, they might have trouble finding a job. A whole group of people may be disadvantaged over a long period because of that one moment in time."

By comparison, McDaniel says that a person who benefits from a strong economy may land a better job, have better educational opportunities and also have a longer life expectancy.

"We are expanding on research where we looked at Americans aged 45-64 over a 14-year period and a similar group of Canadians over a 16-year period, and found that income inequalities make a huge difference for their prospects in later years, " says McDaniel.

McDaniel is also examining how government policy has changed the way people live in countries where aging and significant population change is normal, such as in Japan and Korea, two countries with very different challenges.

"Japan is the 'oldest' country in the world, while Korea has a relatively young population but it will age very quickly," says McDaniel. "What we are finding is that innovations are unexpected. Both Korea and Japan have instituted publicly funded long-term care insurance. When speaking to the Koreans about why they implemented it at this time, the response was that they could afford it now while the population is young, as opposed to being unable to afford it later."

McDaniel said that what Japan did to respond to its aging population was to encourage more women to enter the workforce, and made it easier by instituting public daycare.

The other issue McDaniel looks to tackle as part of her research, is changing the fundamental notion of age from a number to a concept that takes a whole host of lifestyle experiences into consideration, among them health, education, economic circumstances and other factors.

"You need to look at age differently based on what happens to a person during their life. A person in a risky or blue-collar occupation might age differently than someone in a less dangerous or physically demanding job," she says. "We need to have a flexible definition of what is 'old', because this research, while not yet fully completed, is important in policy development."

Keeping a finger on the pulse of these worldwide indicators is keeping McDaniel and her teams constantly busy. The research projects will ultimately wind up as journal articles or become part of four books currently in process.

This story first appeared in the November issue of the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

New Canada Research Chair at Prentice Institute

trevor.kenney — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:08:04 +0000

Dr. Susan McDaniel, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Sociology professor and director of the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy, has been named a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Global Population and Economy, the first Tier 1 CRC in social sciences at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

The seven-year, renewable appointment comes with more than $1.4 million, which will support the Prentice Institute's ever-increasing research capacity.

The funding helps McDaniel and her research colleagues look beyond numbers, and dig deeper into the complex issues that face people over the course of their lives, such as aging, income inequalities, access to health care, how global issues affect people and policies that take aging and population shifts into consideration.

"This is an outstanding announcement for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and for Dr. McDaniel and her research teams," says Dr. Dan Weeks, the U of L's Vice-President, Research.

In total, 253 newly awarded or renewed Canada Research Chairs at 56 Canadian degree-granting post-secondary institutions are being awarded $203.9 million to undertake new research.

This federal investment allows Canadian institutions to strengthen their position as global leaders in research and development, bringing greater economic opportunities for Canadians.

"Susan has done an excellent job of putting the Prentice Institute on a trajectory that will make it a world-recognized centre. She has attracted a significant number of researchers to the Institute as research associates, which in turn has built up our graduate student component. With this new funding, Dr. McDaniel and her colleagues will be able to significantly expand on the Prentice Institute's mandate to look into population issues world-wide."

There are three areas McDaniel – and her expanding world-wide group of researchers – is examining through what she describes as 'life-course research': comparisons between Canadian and other population groups, initially in the United States; the government-supported policy steps countries such as Japan and Korea have taken to manage the challenges of an aging population; and the concept of age itself, and how factors such as economic conditions, lack of healthcare or being a refugee from a war-torn country can have on your life expectancy.

"The life course research concept has several principles, among them that you need to follow a person through their life to get a solid picture of how they are affected by a variety of influences," says McDaniel.

"We are following individuals across time because at each point in your life course, you are existing in a context in a society. For example, if a person graduates from high school or university at a time when the economy is not healthy, they might have trouble finding a job. A whole group of people may be disadvantaged over a long period because of that one moment in time."

By comparison, McDaniel says that a person who benefits from a strong economy may land a better job, have better educational opportunities and also have a longer life expectancy.

McDaniel adds that some people may be disadvantaged at the beginning of their lives, and may be continually disadvantaged as they age, compounding the disadvantages they face as they grow older.

"We are expanding on research where we looked at Americans aged 45-64 over a 14-year period, and a similar group of Canadians over a 16-year period, and found that income inequalities make a huge difference for their prospects in their later years, " says McDaniel.

The key difference between Canadians and Americans is that Canadians have lesser inequality, primarily because of social policies such as public health insurance, but also better risk insurance such as employment insurance.

As well, McDaniel is examining how government policy has changed the way people live in countries where aging and significant population change is normal, such as in Japan and Korea, two countries with very different challenges.

"Japan is the 'oldest' country in the world, while Korea has a relatively young population now but it will age very quickly," says McDaniel said. "What we are finding is that innovations are unexpected. Both Korea and Japan have instituted publicly-funded long term care insurance. When speaking to the Koreans about why they implemented it at this time, the response was that they could afford it now while the population is young, as opposed to being unable to afford it later."

The other issue McDaniel hopes to tackle as part of her research is to change the fundamental notion of 'age' from a number to a concept that takes a whole host of lifestyle experiences into consideration, among them health, education, economic circumstances, and other factors.

"You need to look at age differently based on what happens to a person during their life. A person in a risky or blue-collar occupation might age differently than someone in a less dangerous or physically demanding job," she says. "We need to have a flexible definition of what is 'old', because this research, while not yet fully completed, is important in policy development."

Keeping a finger on the pulse of these world-wide indicators is keeping McDaniel and her teams constantly busy. The new and ongoing research projects will ultimately wind up as journal articles or become parts of four books currently in process.

To date, the effort involves researchers from Canada, the United States, Japan, Korea, Italy and Africa, in addition to the regular complement of faculty members currently at the U of L or who are being recruited to join the Prentice Institute as research associates, guest lecturers, or visiting professors.

Investigating global population and economies

trevor.kenney — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:11:23 +0000

The extent and implications of population change and the dynamics of economies raise questions that demographers and social scientists alike are working to better understand. Taken together in a global context, the number of questions only increases. Yet both population and economies affect our lives, our choices and our policies.

At the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, global population challenges are explored from different angles and potential solutions are investigated in new ways.

By DANA YATES

Like many people, John Prentice of Calmar, Alta., dreamed of making a difference in the world. But the late agri-business entrepreneur and philanthropist didn't just stop there; he wanted to change the course of history altogether.

It was an ambitious goal – and one that prompted Prentice, along with his wife Connie, to donate more than $8 million to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2006. The endowment marked the largest-single gift in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's history and established the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy. The institute, which was officially launched in 2009, studies changes in the world population and their lasting impact on demographics, economies and societies.

Just a short time later, the Prentice Institute has become a leading research centre, one of only a few worldwide that is focused on global population changes and the economy. What's more, the institute has attracted many external research grants and is building graduate programs, along with bringing together 20 research affiliates from across eight departments at the U of L.

From looking at how people move through life stages in different economies with different demographic structures, to questions of food security, ethnic diversity, immigration and international trade, the Prentice Institute for Global Population and Economy at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is at the cutting edge of demographic research.

"It's magical when you get that cross-pollination of expertise," says Dr. Trevor Harrison, a U of L sociology professor who served as the Prentice Institute's interim director between 2007 and 2009.

At the Prentice Institute, sociologists, historians, anthropologists and economists work alongside experts in such diverse fields as nursing, public health, political science and women's studies. Those researchers, in turn, create partnerships with experts across Canada and around the world. The result: global population challenges are explored from different angles and potential solutions are investigated in new ways.

"John Prentice was a big thinker," says
Dr. Susan McDaniel, the institute's current director. She also holds the Prentice Research Chair in Global Population and Economy, the first endowed position of its kind at the U of L. "John was a Renaissance man who understood how things were connected."

Indeed, many forces and factors affect – and are connected to – the global population and economy. But the links between the former and latter are not well understood. Prentice Institute researchers are advancing our understanding of this relationship and using data to verify or refute popular beliefs about demographic changes. This "myth-busting" practice can be applied to numerous situations, says McDaniel.

"We often hear, for instance, that providing health care to an aging population will bankrupt the system," she explains. "In reality, there are much wider concerns. Medical treatments are expensive, and there is a deepening problem of poverty and the health issues associated with it."

To that end, Prentice Institute researchers are studying various issues that appear, at first blush, to be unconnected. They include international trade, migration, aging and family size. But while the subjects may seem disparate, McDaniel says cause-and-effect relationships are at work – and they are having a major impact on the world's citizens.

"Growing inequalities, for example, are happening in developed countries, such as Canada and the United States, and in developing countries, too. These inequalities cause health problems and lower everyone's life expectancy," says McDaniel. The process, she explains, is similar to an illness spreading through a classroom. If one unvaccinated child becomes sick, others will inevitably be affected.

That concept of social ramifications is one in which McDaniel is well versed. An internationally recognized sociology researcher and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, her expertise includes demographic aging, generational relationships, family change and the social impacts of technology. Before joining the Prentice Institute and the U of L Department of Sociology two years ago, McDaniel was a professor of family and consumer studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Utah and a senior scholar at its Institute of Public and International Affairs.

Having lived in Alberta before, McDaniel's return north of the border has helped attract other researchers to the Prentice Institute. Among them is Dr. Kathrin Komp, a post-doctoral fellow from VU ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Amsterdam. Other researchers, such as Drs. Harrison and Alexander Darku, who were U of L faculty members before the Prentice Institute was created, currently serve as the institute's associate directors. Their collective experience and expertise have made a significant impact on the institute.

For example, Darku, an assistant professor of economics at the U of L, previously taught at McGill and Concordia Universities. He has also served as a consultant to the World Bank at its Washington, D.C., headquarters and has worked as an economist in Ghana. Through his association with the Prentice Institute, Darku has noticed a shift in his research interests.

Whereas he was previously focused strictly on economic policies and international development, he now studies the interplay among international trade, migration and health. Specifically, Darku is currently looking at the growth of multinational companies in developing countries and the resulting impact on populations' eating habits. The situation, Darku has found, contributes to a "nutritional shift" within a population and can increase obesity rates.

"The interdisciplinary nature of the Prentice Institute has brought many new dimensions to my research," says Darku.

Harrison, meanwhile, has shared his research with new audiences; he has spoken at a number of presentations hosted by the institute. Once a visiting professor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and Hokkai-Gakuen ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Japan, Harrison was the 2010 Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Canadian Studies at Georgia's Kennesaw State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. As a researcher and guest lecturer at the university, he brought a Canadian perspective to the relationship between Canada and the United States since Sept. 11.

Today at the Prentice Institute, Harrison – like Darku – balances his research with administrative responsibilities. And it seems both areas involve big-picture thinking.

"We're developing programs that will keep the institute moving forward. Ultimately, we're creating a research infrastructure that supports creative thinking and incubates good ideas."

One example is a policy concept known as a guaranteed annual income (GAI). While there are many different approaches to a GAI, the initiative would essentially provide each citizen with a base sum of money. Harrison has studied this complex issue since the 1970s, and while the logistics of implementing a GAI system would be considerable, it would also offer a number of advantages. They include administrative efficiencies, the reduction or elimination of poverty and an increasingly mobile workforce that can afford to move around the country.

GAI supplements, however, are just one of many ideas being analysed at the Prentice Institute. And it's all part of an effort to inform public and private policies that will better reflect, and keep up with, a changing Canada and world. To raise awareness of this vital work, Prentice Institute researchers participate in conferences and dialogue sessions, and contribute to articles, journals and books. Finally, there are future plans to build international partnerships with sister institutes.

"There are many challenges that governments, corporations, education systems and individuals have to address," says McDaniel. "But once they have the information they need, they have the potential to act upon it.

"People are hungry for knowledge. And we're training them how to look beyond myths and build a better society. It will lead to better voters, parents, consumers and caregivers."

What can we learn from other countries with regard to population aging and social policy?

Population aging and economic challenges have raised questions about how social policy regimes are, or will be, affected in various types of economies. Some research indicates a downward convergence across countries is inevitable as global economic and demographic pressures work to bring greater homogeneity to social policies. Other studies suggest that demographic and economic pressures can actually have stimulating effects on social policies.

To address these issues, Prentice Institute researchers are investigating Japan, which has experienced population aging and economic challenges simultaneously. Scholars are analysing changing relations among demographics, economics and social policy. They ask what opportunities can be discerned from the experience of Japan for re-creation of social policy regimes elsewhere in the 21st century. Ultimately, researchers will widen the comparative lens to include other Asian and developed countries. The findings from this crucial research will guide policy-makers in various countries facing similar challenges.

Is there a "Canadian exceptionalism" in issues related to immigration and diversity?

The rapid rise in ethnic diversity in immigrant-receiving countries has resulted in a general anti-diversity, anti-multiculturalism sentiment. Some studies indicate that a generalized trust is more difficult to foster in a multicultural society, resulting in a loss of sense of community and togetherness. However, other research suggests that Canada might be immune from these largely European trends.

At the Prentice Institute, researchers are investigating the extent of, and the reasons for, this Canadian exceptionalism. A clearer understanding of the differences among ethno-racial groups in terms of labour-market integration and social capital could make a significant difference in the lives of Canadians and the global community.

To what extent is population, at root, a problem with respect to food security?

Food is a basic resource essential for human survival. It is estimated that at the end of 2009, more than one billion of the world's population did not have adequate food to meet basic nutritional needs. As the most populous country in the world, China is constantly challenged in providing food for its citizens. Given the sheer size and strategic prominence of China, food security there is a global concern.

As leaders of an international team, researchers at the Prentice Institute are examining the stress points related to food security in various regions in China. The set of indicators of food security and rural development they develop will be an important assessment tool in China and around the world.

How can we achieve economic equality in developing countries?

Throughout most of human history, the conditions of human life have varied from difficult to tolerable, from starvation to subsistence. In some parts of the developing world, these conditions have not changed much, while in others, progress has been made. Disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income exist in a wide range of societies and their nature and cause are issues our world must address.

Researchers at the Prentice Institute are studying how international trade can lead to growth and the distribution of income, especially in developing countries. Another crucial line of research focuses on the relationship between business cycles, poverty and income inequalities.

How will social policy address our aging population?

Wayne Gretzky is credited with saying, "You must skate to where the puck will be." In contemplating the future of aging populations, policy often skates instead to where the puck is now. The presumption is that by studying those who are older now, we can understand those who will be older in the future. But... the older of tomorrow will be very different, as will the socio-economic contexts in which they live.

As leaders of a Canada/U.S. multidisciplinary team, Prentice Institute researchers are studying how people in mid-life in Canada and the U.S. are aging in terms of health and overall well-being. How they help (or not) younger and older relatives now and as they age, and how they anticipate their later years relative to their older relatives now and their younger relatives as they reach their later years, are two of the important questions being addressed. These studies will yield a wealth of information that is critical to addressing policy and family needs in the future.

This story first appeared in SAM Magazine. For a look at SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Research Chair in Global Population and Economy

McDaniel earns first Tier I CRC for social sciences

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