Studies and Analysis
Example Studies We Are Conducting or Have Conducted
The Refugee Crisis
The refugee crisis is one of the major humanitarian crises of our time. There are over 41 million people internally displaced, 26 million refugees, 3.5 million asylum seekers, and over 5.4 million deaths from ongoing civil wars. We have been studying the refugee crisis since 2015 from multiple perspectives. We have built computer simulations to support the allocation of humanitarian aid to help refugees fleeing crisis countries. We have looked at the possibilities of diplomacy and peacekeeping to resolve the ongoing civil wars that are creating the refugee crisis. The refugee crisis is a long-term problem requiring a long-term durable solution. We believe simulation and analysis can provide insight into the potential of various policies that agencies like the United Nations might implement.
Control of Corruption
Corruption is a significant issue in many developing countries that affects all aspects of civil life. We believe that a systems perspective of the institutional quality in these countries could be a helpful approach to controlling corruption. We have developed a computer simulation that utilizes a database provided by the World Bank on institutional quality in every country of the World. Based on our System Dynamics simulation, we can track the changes in institutional quality in the past and project whether corruption might increase or decrease. There is an opportunity to use the simulator to suggest how to allocate government effort best to control corruption in the future.
COVID-19 and
Trust in Government
In some countries like Canada, the citizens have rallied around their government to control the pandemic. In other countries like Colombia, the citizens distrust their government and have not cooperated with pandemic control initiatives. This distrust has led to a Large-Scale Social Dilemma. We did a comparative analysis of the Canadian and Colombian responses to COVID-19. We concluded that this lack of trust in government might have been a contributor to prolonging the crisis resulting in many unnecessary deaths.
Canada's Oil Sands
Canada faces a conflict of interest when it promotes the Paris Climate Accords yet continues to invest in the Alberta Oil Sands. The Oil Sands will contribute $1 trillion to the Canadian economy and pay $17 billion in federal and provincial taxes over the next ten years. In 2018, it created or supported 217,000 jobs. On the other hand, the Oil Sands make 12% of Canada's CO2 emissions and 0.2% of the World's. It uses 263 million cubic meters of fresh water annually and takes up 4,800 square kilometres of land. We studied the impact on social, economic, and environmental well-being associated with the Oil Sands. We concluded that the Canadian government must decide whether the social and economic benefits exceed the ecological costs.
Helping Women-of-Colour Entrepreneurs
Over 50% of all small businesses fail before their 5th year of operation, and women-of-colour entrepreneurs face unique challenges when starting and running a small business. We studied women-of-colour entrepreneurs and estimated the rates of a successful exit, failed exit, and continuation of the company at the various stages of their businesses' life. We developed a method to evaluate the factors to improve the women-of-colour chances of success.
