UBC Reports | Vol. 54 | No. 10 | Oct. 2, 2008
Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in September 2008
Compiled by Basil Waugh
UBC Political Scientists
Comment on Canadian
Election
UBC political science
professors have featured
prominently in federal election
media, including The New York
Times, The Globe and Mail,
CTV News and the CanWest
News chain.
In a New York Times
interview, Prof. Fred Cutler said
the U.S. election will have little
impact on Canadian voters.
“This talk of Obama energizing
American voters and the
contrast with ‘boring Canada’ is
simply off the mark.”
Prof. Allen Tupper’s
commentary ranged from Green
MP Blair Wilson’s re-election
chances, to TV debate rules
to David Emerson. “He was
a minister who became wellrespected
for his policy and
administrative capacities, of
which there is not a surplus in
the Harper government.”
Profs. Kathryn Harrison and
Philip Resnick also joined in
the debate, both speaking on
B.C. politics and environment
issues. “It’s promising to be the
first time the environment has
ever played a prominent role in
a national election,” Harrison
said.
UBC Election Stock Market Opens for Trading
Media reported on the return
of UBC’s Election Stock Market
(UBC-ESM), an online, real-time
market where investors purchase
and trade “shares” representing
the political parties they believe
will win the election.
In a CTV interview, Sauder
School of Business Prof. Werner
Antweiler said the non-profit
initiative is a better predictor of
an election outcome than polling.
“Investing their own real money
provides motivation to traders
to predict the political parties’
fortunes.”
Past UBC-ESMs have provided
accurate predictions of final
vote and seat shares, including
predictions within a few seats of
the 2006, 2000 and 1997 federal
elections.
Training Young Brains to
Behave
The New York Times
reported on research by a UBC
developmental cognitive scientist
who says mental exercises can
teach children to become more
self-possessed at earlier ages,
reducing stress levels at home
and improving their experience
in school.
Prof. Adele Diamond is
researching three “executive
functions”: the ability to resist
distractions or delay gratification
to finish a job, working memory
and cognitive flexibility, the
presence of mind to adapt when
demands change.
“Some people will ask, ‘Why
are you trying to improve
prefrontal abilities when the
prefrontal cortex is not fully
developed until the 20s?’” said
Diamond. “I tell them that 2-yearolds
have legs, too, which will not
reach full length for 10 years or
more – but they can still walk and
run and benefit from exercise.”
Housing Prices in Most
Canadian Markets are
Overpriced and Likely to
Decline: UBC Study
Homeowners in most Canadian
urban centres should be prepared
for the possibility of housing
market price declines, according
to a UBC Sauder School of
Business study.
Prof. Tsur Somerville found
that, with the exception of
Toronto and Edmonton, houses
in Canada’s major cities are
overvalued, priced up to 25 per
cent higher than they should be to
balance with rents.
“The decade long boom in
Canadian markets is over,” said
Somerville. His study was covered
by news media across Canada.
