Ian Keay is a Professor, Associate Head, and Chair of Undergraduate Studies in the Economics Department at Queen's. His research focuses on North American economic history, environmental and natural resource economics, and law and economics. His papers cover diverse topics including the development of criminal justice institutions, responses to globalization, the impact of induced technological change, and the recognition of Indigenous rights in Canada. He currently serves on the executive board of the Canadian Economics Association and the Canadian Network for Economic History. Professor Keay completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia in 1999, he spent two years as a post-doctoral research fellow at McGill University's Institute for the Study of Canada, and he has been at Queen's since 2000.
- Ian Keay and Daniel Teeter (2026) “Immigrants’ Labour Market Experiences in Early Twentieth Century Canada” Historical Methods (https://doi.org/10.1080/01615440.2026.2646502).
- Kris Inwood, Ian Keay and Blair Long (2025) “Racial Bias in Criminal Sentencing: Historical Evidence from Chinese Railroad Workers in British Columbia” Canadian Journal of Economics 58(4): 1638-63.
- Kris Inwood, Ian Keay and Blair Long (2025) “Institutional Formalism and Criminal Sentencing on the Frontier: Evidence from British Columbia’s Jails, 1864-1913” Journal of Law Economics and Organization (https://doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewaf002).
- Kris Inwood and Ian Keay (2024) “The Well-Being of Indigenous Communities in the Pacific Northwest: Anthropometric Evidence from British Columbia’s Jails, 1864-1913” Economics and Human Biology 55(4): 101442.
- Ian Keay and Brian Varian (2024) “The Impact of Preferential Market Access: British Imports into Canada, 1892-1903” Canadian Journal of Economics 57(1): 140-64.