From left to right: Frédérik Aucoin (Head - Demand Forecasting at Hydro-Québec), Dalibor Stevanovic (Professor in the Department of Economics at ESG UQAM), Catherine Mounier (Vice-President, Research, Creation and Dissemination at UQAM), Éric Girard (Québec Minister of Finance), Alain Guay (Professor in the Department of Economics at ESG UQAM), Martin Coiteux (Chief Economist at the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec), and Komlan Sedzro (Dean of ESG UQAM). Photo: Nathalie St-Pierre

Congratulations to Dalibor Stevanovic, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the École des sciences de la gestion of the Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM), also researcher in charge of the CIRANO Pole on Modeling.

Professors Alain Guay and Dalibor Stevanovic are co-holders of this new Chair in Macroeconomics and Forecasting, which has received financial support of more than $1.5 million from the Ministère des Finances du Québec, Hydro-Québec and the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec.

The Chair's mission is to understand, explain and better predict major recessions, crises generated by the debts of several countries and the impact of climate change on employment and economic activity using a new generation of macroeconomic models. It will monitor the economies of Quebec, Canada and their main international trading partners, study the interactions between different sectors of economic activity, as well as the effects of macroeconomic policies (monetary, fiscal and tax), and integrate the risks associated with climate change into macroeconomic analysis.

The launch of the Chair took place on January 23 in the presence of Québec Finance Minister Éric Girard, Hydro-Québec's Chief - Demand Forecasting, Frédérik Aucoin, the Chief Economist of the Caisse de dépôt et de placement du Québec, Martin Coiteux, the Rector of UQAM, Magda Fusaro, and the Dean of ESG UQAM, Komlan Sedzro, among others.

"The activities we will carry out, particularly with students, will help train highly qualified economists in macroeconomics and forecasting, say Professors Alain Guay and Dalibor Stevanovic. The Chair will also act as a reference, a source of information and a place of exchange for the community thanks to the various dissemination activities - conferences, seminars, web portal - that will be held on a regular basis."