Economist Tom Courchene had an ‘uncanny ability’ to anticipate public policy needs

When colleagues of Tom Courchene at Queen’s University published a collection of essays in honour of the prominent economist in 2015, they decided to title the book Thinking Outside the Box. For good reason.

Prof. Courchene, who died on Nov. 4 at age 85, was far from conventional. Opinionated, irrepressible, self-deprecating, with interests that ranged from the heights of monetary policy to the quotidian details of unemployment insurance benefits, Prof. Courchene cut a swathe in Canadian public policy far beyond the ivory tower, with his often controversial work lauded and criticized by columnists and politicians alike.