November
Professor Alan Hochstein
Professor of Finance at Concordia University
For our November member of the month the IAES welcomes Professor Alan Hochstein. Professor Hochstein teaches in the areas of general finance and business economics. Before joining Concordia’s Finance Department, he taught economics at McGill’s graduate business school for a number of years. He has presented papers at conferences in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. He has published a microeconomics textbook and has been published in the in the societies academic journals including the Atlantic Economic Journal, and International Advances in Economic Research among several other academic journals. Although he has done research in general business economics areas, his main interest is in the health economics field.
Why did you become a member of the International Atlantic Economic Society?
I think it is important for young academics to be affiliated with respected societies in their disciplines for the obvious reasons…to get to meet and talk with people from around the world who have similar interests; to have a society which operates alternately within North America and in Europe so that members can earn the benefit of travel to the conferences and to have the chance to present one’s own thoughts on new ideas to those who have been asked to criticize in a constructive manner. The IAES Society seemed to be the ideal place for me to meet these objectives. I have never been disappointed.
What types of projects/research are you currently working on and what inspired/motivated you to pursue these interests?
I believe good teaching is a fundamental requirement for academic economists and I have always been interested in taking standard economic theory and presenting it in a new and innovative way. This seems to make me a better teacher. I look forward to the IAES Conferences to present the ideas I have developed. Most recently I have presented alternative ways to present the investment multiplier and the accelerator theory of investment to graduate students in economics.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering entering your line of work/field of study?
For those people who are pursuing the idea of becoming an academic economist working at a university, my advice would be to work hard to get several publications in respected journals early in the career so that tenure is assured and out of the way. Work in a team if necessary. Aim high, but accept lower down. Keep trying even though it is common that excellent ideas are sometimes unduly criticized and submissions are often rejected. It is not uncommon for one journal to reject and another to accept the exact same paper.
Going forward, what other projects/research are you looking to or hoping to pursue?
I am looking forward to finding out a bit more about the newer economics field of behavioral economics. I thought we have always been looking at how our economic agents behave but I guess I have more to learn here.
What’s your favorite hobby?
I have a great love of sports and like try new ones if I can. Badminton and pickleball (a racket sport that combines elements of badminton, tennis, and table tennis) are the latest additions. I try to play these activities as often as possible.