Shaimaa Yassin

Shaimaa Yassin is a senior research director at the Institute for Research on Public Policy. She leads the Toward a More Equitable Canada research program, which has published studies on affordability, including housing and other basic needs that intersect with climate and energy policy, food insecurity and income supports for lower income Canadians, and proposed dental care and pharmacare programs. She leads the IRPP’s role as a research and knowledge mobilization partner of the Affordability Action Council and also serves as a member.  She also supports the IRPP’s Community Transformation Project. Shaimaa manages the IRPP’s postdoctoral fellowship program in support of Indigenous, Black and other racialized scholars.

She is a policy-oriented economist with over 15 years of experience in translating challenging academic research into strategic advice for a broad audience. A labour economist by training, her work focuses on identifying ways that governments can help lower costs of living, improve access to basic needs, enhance economic participation, increase income, and address barriers people face in capturing opportunities—particularly where labour market dynamics and skills intersect with issues of equity.

Previously, Shaimaa served as senior director at the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation (CEDEC) in Montreal. Shaimaa has consulted for several governments and organizations such as the World Bank, Chaire “Sécurisation des Parcours Professionnels” in France, and the Economic Research Forum in Egypt. She was a research fellow in the economics department of several academic institutions, namely McGill University (Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow), the University of Lausanne and the University of Neuchâtel. She has an extensive record of publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, the Les Accidents de Carrière book (Presses de Sciences Po, 2017) and chapters in edited volumes on labour markets in the Middle East and North Africa (Oxford University Press, 2014 and 2015). Shaimaa holds a PhD in economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a MSc in empirical and theoretical economics from the Paris School of Economics.

Recent Publications and Projects by Shaimaa:

• Slaying myths about income support
• Expanding the GST/HST Credit: How the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit Helps Canadians and Why Design Choices Matter
• International Approaches in Place-Based Skills Development

• Policy analysis and advice
• Affordability and access to basic needs (housing, food, transportation, energy)
• Income security, social safety nets and economic participation
• Labour market dynamics, workforce development and equity
• Applied econometrics and impact evaluation