Ipek Tastan

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Calgary, expecting to graduate in 2027. I am on the job market for the 2026-2027 academic year.

I am an applied microeconomist working in health and labour economics, with additional interests in gender economics and environmental policy. My research examines how public institutions and local conditions shape economic outcomes, particularly when formal access to services or policy support does not translate into similar outcomes across individuals and communities. I use administrative and survey data to study these questions.

My job market paper, "Places and Hospital Use: Evidence from Movers in Ontario," examines how much of the geographic variation in hospital use reflects local healthcare environments rather than differences between patients. Using linked administrative data to follow individuals who move within Ontario, I find that their hospital use shifts toward the patterns of their destination regions, with the largest effects among the lowest-income patients and those who move longer distances.

You can access my CV here.

Email: ipek.tastan [at] ucalgary [dot] ca

Works Published

The Reproducibility and Robustness of Economics and Political Science” (with Abel Brodeur, Derek Mikola, Nikolai Cook and many others), Nature, April 2026. [Paper] [Appendix]

Specific role in the paper: Author of one replication report.

Abstract: Trust in science is paramount for advancing knowledge. To ensure this trust, scientific research must adhere to transparent processes and yield robust findings. The present study pushes the boundaries of understanding research reliability by mass reproducing and replicating claims from 110 papers in leading economic and political science outlets. The analysis, involving computational reproducibility checks and robustness assessments, reveals several patterns. First, we uncover a high rate (over 85%) of fully reproducible results. Second, excluding very minor errors like missing packages or paths, we uncover coding errors forabout 25% of studies, with some studies containing multiple errors. Third, we test the robustness of the results to 5,494 re-analyses. We find a robustness, reproducibility and replicability rate of 71%. Robustness reproducibility rates are relatively higher for re-analyses using new data and lower for re-analyses involving changing the definition of the dependent variable or the sample. Fourth, 52% of reanalysis effect size estimates are smaller than the original published effects, and the average statistical significance of re-analysis is 77% of the original. Last, we rely on a many analysts approach to answer eight additional research questions. Our findings underscore the need for continued efforts to enhance the transparency and reliability of scientific research

Works in Progress

Places and Hospital Use: Evidence from Movers in Ontario [Job Market Paper]

Abstract: Healthcare utilization varies widely across places, even when everyone has the same public insurance. This paper asks how much of this variation reflects patients' health and preferences and how much reflects the characteristics of the places where they receive care. I follow adults who move within Ontario and examine how their hospital use changes with differences in utilization between their destination and original locations. Comparing the same person before and after a move accounts for persistent differences in health and care seeking. Place effects explain about a quarter of the difference in hospital use between origin and destination, and the effect persists five years after the move. These effects are the highest for the lowest-income movers and for moves over longer distances. Using survey data on self-reported health, I find no clear health or well-being gains from moving to a higher-use area, although the estimates are imprecise. These findings suggest that insurance coverage alone is insufficient to address geographic differences in care. Policies aimed at reducing these differences should consider how local healthcare services shape hospital use.

Household Labour Supply Dynamics Following Health Shocks: Evidence from Canada [Paper]

Abstract: Health shocks impose substantial economic costs on households, but the spillover effects on unaffected spouses are less understood. Spouses can increase work to replace lost income (``the added worker effect'') or reduce work to provide care, and gender norms may play an important role in these responses. I study how serious health shocks affect household labour supply using administrative data linking hospital records with tax returns for all Canadian married couples from 2004 to 2019. Exploiting variation in the timing of cancer diagnoses, strokes, and acute hospitalizations, I find asymmetric spousal responses by gender. Following a partner's health shock, wives reduce earnings by 4 percent in the first year, with losses persisting at 3.5 percent through year five. Husbands reduce earnings by 1.5 percent initially but recover to baseline within three years. The gender gap widens with shock severity. For strokes, which generate intensive caregiving needs, wives' earnings fall by 7 percent while husbands' earnings increase by 5 percent. The probability of permanent labour force exit rises by 2.0 percentage points for wives compared to 1.6 percentage points for husbands. These patterns emerge despite universal healthcare coverage that eliminates medical cost concerns. The results reveal that when formal long-term care is limited, households respond to binding caregiving constraints through gender specialization, with women bearing disproportionate and lasting economic costs.

Targeted Subsidies for Indigenous Firms and Places: Cleaning up the Legacy of Oil and Gas (with Lucija Muehlenbachs and Laurel Wheeler) [Paper] [Policy Brief]

Funded by: Resources for the Future - Resilient Energy Economics Initiative

Abstract: We examine whether firm-based targets can achieve place-based goals when firms and place are closely linked. Our context is a Canadian program that subsidized the environmental cleanup of nonproducing oil and gas wells, with targeted subsidies for Indigenous-owned firms and set-asides for land designated as First Nations reserves or Métis settlements. Firm-based targets yielded subsidized contracts for Indigenous-owned firms but did not translate to place-based cleanup; that required a place-based set-aside. Through qualitative interviews, we also find that credit constraints and administrative complexity limited how fully Indigenous firms could capitalize on the subsidies. Our results shed light on the intersection of industrial and environmental policies aiming to deliver local benefits and promote inclusive economic growth.

Sessional Instructor

ECON 201: Principles of Microeconomics (Fall 2026)
ECON 209: Engineering Economics (Summer 2023)

Teaching Assistant

ECON 201: Principles of Microeconomics (Fall 2026, Spring 2026, Fall 2025, Fall 2023, Winter 2023, Fall 2022)
ECON 203: Principles of Macroeconomics (Summer 2020)
ECON 209: Engineering Economics (Spring 2024, Winter 2022, Fall 2021)
ECON 301: Intermediate Economic Theory - Microeconomics I (Winter 2026, Fall 2020)
ECON 303: Intermediate Economic Theory - Macroeconomics I (Fall 2024)
ECON 357: Intermediate Economic Theory - Microeconomics II (Winter 2024 - TA Excellence Prize)
ECON 359: Intermediate Economic Theory - Macroeconomics II (Fall 2019)
ECON 377: Economics and the Environment (Winter 2020)
ECON 389: Introduction to Mathematical Economics II (Winter 2025)
ECON 427: Energy Economics and Policy (Fall 2024)
ECON 481: Behavioural Economics (Winter 2020)
ECON 497: Advanced Econometrics (Winter 2021)
ECON 491: Managerial and Decision Economics (Spring 2025)