Christopher Cotton

View Dr. Cotton's CV

Dr. Cotton is a Professor in the Department of Economics, holds cross-appointments in Translational Medicine and in the School of Policy Studies, and teaches in Queen’s Smith School of Business. He is also the Director of the John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy (JDI).

Research overview: His research is at the intersection of economics and policy. It focuses on expertise, evidence, and institutions — how they develop and interact to shape strategy, policy, and outcomes. It draws on applied microeconomics, informational and organizational economics, and political economy, with applications in evidence-based policy, education, health, technology and productivity, and the economics of science. While he began his career as a game theorist, his current research and graduate teaching span theory, econometrics, and experimental methods. His work has been published in the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, and other leading journals in and beyond economics, and has received grant funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Tri-Council's New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF), Canada's Digital Technology Supercluster, the Spencer Foundation, and others. 

Much of his work on how leaders make decisions, how organizations engage with expertise and evidence, and the challenges facing the science-to-policy pipeline is informed by engagement with real-world institutions. During COVID-19, he led national efforts to bring together scientists, social scientists, and public health leaders to assess pandemic policies, including as co-founder and director of the PHAC/NSERC-funded One Society Network for Emerging Infectious Disease Modeling, and as a member of COVID working groups for Global Canada and the Royal Society of Canada. His COVID-19 work culminated in my nomination for the Governor General’s Innovation Award, the book Lasting Disruption, and a research agenda involving the “science of science” and policymaking under pressure. He also serves as a board member and research advisor at Limestone Analytics, and has led impact evaluations and advised on evaluation design, evidence-based policy, and funding mechanisms for UK DFID/FCDO, USAID, MCC, the Gates Foundation, Nutrition International, UNICEF, World Vision, the World Health Organization, and others.

Supervision & Teaching: Dr. Cotton hosts a regular graduate research group and has supervised the research of more than 50 PhD and MA students. He teaches professional courses in policy and business schools, and economics courses from game theory and public economics to applied econometrics, co-created the Certificate in Professional Impact Analysis, and developed a professional program on public finance and education systems for USAID education officers worldwide.