Colin Scarffe

Colin currently serves as an economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at Global Affairs Canada. In this role, he is able to apply the economic theory from his degrees to his daily job. Global Affairs Canada works to shape and advance Canada’s interest in the global community. Colin now has several long running research projects regarding the environment, trade, and the supply chain. Colin’s economic research is used by policy and decision makers in the Federal Government.

In middle school, Colin read Freakonomics and found this intro to economics very interesting. Given his interests in finance and statistics, economics was a great fit! Colin went through the BSc program at UVic and found it prepared him well for both the work force and graduate studies at the University of British Columbia.

After completing his undergraduate degree, Colin worked as a research assistant at the Bank of Canada for one year. This work experience helped him not only solidify what he had learned but help show him what areas he was interested in for when he went to complete his Masters.

When Colin is not busy working on economic research, he enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee. He first found this sport while studying at UVic. Colin is now the captain of his competitive team in Ottawa. He finds the concepts from economic finance useful when considering high risk plays in Frisbee. Over the long-term (a game or a tournament), taking higher risk plays will lead to a higher outcome, but in the short-term (a single point to win the game) it's better to take the low-risk, low-reward plays and be prudent getting the disk down the field.

When reflecting on his time as a student, Colin’s advice for current students is:

The most important aspect of undergrad and grad school was showing up to class, doing the homework, and doing the readings. The best way I learn is by struggling through a problem set and trying to explain to someone else how to do the problem. I think the readings are an important part that are often ignored by students. The textbooks will phrase things slightly differently than the professors, and hearing (or reading) things in a slightly different way may make different things click in your mind.