The Department of Management at U of T Scarborough
is proud to welcome Elizabeth Dhuey and Esther
Eiling as its newest faculty members. Elizabeth and Esther,
both international scholars, joined the Department in July 2007
as Assistant Professors of Economics and Finance, respectively.
With expertise in their areas of interest and a mixture of academic
and professional successes they are major assets to the quickly
growing Department. While they are both based at U of T Scarborough,
Elizabeth is also affiliated with the CIRHR (Centre for Industrial
Relations and Human Resources) and Esther with the Rotman School
of Management.
Drawn to economics for its rigorous and practical approach to economic and societal issues, Elizabeth finished her undergraduate degree in economics and sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She went on to complete her M.A. and Ph.D. in economics at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has chosen to focus her teaching and research in labour economics. She was the proud recipient of the UC President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship and USCB Graduate Division Dissertation Award in 2006.
Always having had a keen interest in global markets and international business matters Esther completed her B.A. and M.Sc. in International Business at the Tilburg University in the Netherlands. And after realizing that finance was her true passion she went on to finish both her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in finance at the Tilburg University, CentER Graduate School. She mentions finance always stood out to her because of its “combination of both qualitative and quantitative techniques and its focus on everyday real-life problems.” She was awarded the Junior Extramural Fellowship by the Tilburg University, CentER Graduate School and the respected Capital Market Research Award sponsored by the Toronto Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Society in 2007.
After having held prominent corporate jobs, both women agree that they chose to work in an academic setting as it finally gave them a chance to pursue their two passions teaching and research - simultaneously. Elizabeth remarks “I was thrilled by the Department’s reputation for having great teachers and researchers – something that is quite uncommon.” Esther elaborates that while she appreciates the opportunity to gain applied international experience she enjoys being part of a “diverse academic community” composed of a great mix of “young and senior faculty” as well.
Elizabeth currently teaches Labour Economics to undergraduate students at U of T Scarborough and graduate students at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources. Through her teaching she hopes to encourage students to see the study of economics as more than grueling calculus problems but rather as a fun way to critically study the world. Esther enthusiastically teaches Principles of Finance, one of the mandatory finance courses for all management students. Not only is she committed to showing them the everyday benefits of finance, but also to encouraging them to further their studies. Both concur that one of the greatest aspects of their job is the constant interaction with their students and being able to “engage and challenge them” in a meaningful way.
As dedicated researchers in their fields both Elizabeth and Esther aspire to one day become internationally recognized scholars. Elizabeth’s research heavily focuses upon early childhood education. She is especially proud of her paper, co-written with Kelly Bedard titled, The Persistence of Early Childhood Maturity: International Evidence of Long-Run Age Effects (2006) which appeared in The Quarterly Journal of Economics. The paper examines whether children who enter school at an older age outperform their younger counterparts later on in their schooling. After studying 19 developed countries, the paper finds that the relatively older children performed significantly better than relatively younger children. The oldest children scored higher on standardized exams in the fourth and eighth grade level and were more likely to be enrolled in pre-university academic track courses and high-end academic universities in Canada and the United States. Her current working papers focus on issues surrounding kindergarten and special education diagnoses in schools.
Esther’s main research interests are just as exciting and include asset pricing, international finance, portfolio choice, international market co-movements, market integration, emerging markets and human capital. With a few papers in the works, she is especially proud of her paper titled Dispersion, Equity Returns Correlations and Market Integration (2007) which she co-authored with Bruno Gerard. The paper examines the equity markets of 50 developing and emerging countries around the world and specifically at how these markets move together. Through the use of correlation and market integration measures, the paper comprehensively outlines past international stock market co-movements and also suggests new techniques for measuring equity market linkages.
In their spare time, which they stress is highly limited, Elizabeth enjoys learning to knit and nature based photography while Esther is busy furnishing her new home and taking in the sights of Toronto.
Both Elizabeth and Esther have demonstrated they are experts in their fields and show no signs of slowing down. They agree that their most significant goals for the future include getting more of their papers published, being great professors and of course, attaining tenure. With their zest for excellence and unbeatable enthusiasm, they are undoubtedly well on their way to accomplishing their goals. The Department of Management is thrilled to have them on board and wishes them utmost success as they move forward with exciting endeavours!