Professor Ragan’s research focuses mainly on the design and
implementation of macroeconomic policy in Canada. He has been
privileged to serve the federal government in Ottawa as Special Advisor
to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, the Clifford Clark Visiting
Economist at the Department of Finance, and most recently as a member
of the Advisory Council on Economic Growth. He currently serves as the
chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, a five-year project of
independent economists and advisors to promote the greater use of
pollution pricing in the Canadian economy.
Chris Ragan used the third edition of this textbook as an undergraduate
student in 1981 and joined Richard Lipsey as a co-author in 1997 for the
book’s ninth edition. For several editions, Lipsey and Ragan worked
diligently to maintain the book’s reputation as the clearest and most
comprehensive introductory economics textbook in Canada. Although
Chris Ragan is now the sole listed author, this sixteenth edition still owes
much to the dedication of previous authors, including Richard Lipsey,
Douglas Purvis, and Gordon Sparks.