November 1994
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In December, 1994 Professor Russell Davidson was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statistics and mathematics. This is a rare honour. There are, in total, only eight Fellows at universities in Canada. Professor Davidson joins Professor James MacKinnon as the second current member of the Queen's Economics Department to be honoured in this way. Russell has published a large number of papers in the areas of econometrics and mathematical economics, and he is the co-author, with Professor MacKinnon, of the book "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics".
Gregor Smith received one of six 1993 Canada-US Fulbright Faculty Fellows. Canadian Fulbright awards are administered by the Foundation for Educational Exchange Between Canada and the United States and support research in the United States that promotes understanding.
The theme of the 19th Conference on the Use of Quantitative Methods in Canadian Economic History, held in Montreal on April 8th and 9th of this year, was "Honouring Mac Urquhart's Contributions to Canadian Economic History". Mac was one of the founding members of these Conferences. The first one was held at the University of Toronto in the fall of 1964. This tribute was made in conjunction with the publication of his great work, Gross National Product, Canada 1870 - 1926; The Derviation of the Estimates, (McGill - Queen's Press 1993). The research on which the book is based took 10 years to complete. Although this work is in part the product of a number of his colleagues at Queen's and at other Canadian universities, it is no secret that the main ef fort and intellectual guidance that led to its completion is due to Mac's efforts. Mac, besides estimating income for a number of sectors, drew the work togeter and brought it to the publication stage.
The programme of the 19th Conference centered around aspects of long run growth and, where appropriate, authors used the results of the revised national income estimates as part of their presentations. As the sessions progressed the full contribution of Mac to the evolution of this field in Canada became clear to all those present.
As part of the tribute to Mac, a banquet was held in his honour. Lance Davis (California Institute of Technology) and Bob Gallman (University of North Carolina), who have known Mac over the years, were special invited quests both to the sessions and to the dinner. Lance Davis and Alan Green read tributes to Mac and Bill Parker (Yale University), who could not attend, composed a poem which was read at the dinner.
A "Toast" to Mac (by Bill Parker)
In response to these tributes Mac sang a Scottish folk song he learned years ago from an Aunt.
It was a lovely evening and a very successful conference, but above all it was a long overdue tribute to a great scholar and a marvellous person ---- Mac Urquhart.
Alan Green
November 1994
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