Professor, Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, and Department of Bio-resource Policy, Business and Economics, University of Saskatchewan

M. Rose Olfert


Rose Olfert, a long-time Agriculture and Bioresources faculty member before also joining JSGS, has always focused on policy-relevant research. Rose takes the perspective of labour, or population, when applying her knowledge to rural economies and their evolution as society moves toward urbanization. Among her interests is how rural communities survive, collapse or evolve based on their relationships with, and proximities to, larger centres - which offer many more employment opportunities and urban amenities. The perpetual issue is how to decide under what conditions there should be policy interventions to improve upon the market outcome. When not wrestling with these questions, Rose spends a great deal of her time with family. She loves to walk and frequently traverses the entire Meewasin Valley Trail. Her other passion is travel: her academic work has taken her to Europe, China, Brazil, Chile and Australia, and Peru may be her next destination.

Download M. Rose Olfert's CV.

Email: rose.olfert@usask.ca
Phone: (306) 966-4023
Website: http://crerl.usask.ca
Designations
  • MSc in Agricultural Economics, University of Saskatchewan
  • BA (High Honours) in Economics, University of Saskatchewan
Areas of Interest
  • Public policy
  • Rural/regional economics
  • Rural-urban interdependence
  • People-based vs. Place-based policy
  • Rural economic restructuring
  • Resource based economies
Recent Grants/Awards

Recent Awards

  • Saskatchewan Business Magazine‘s Woman of Influence 2006
  • Short-listed for the Saskatchewan Book Awards, 2003, Jack C. Stabler, and M. Rose Olfert. 2002. Saskatchewan's Communities in the 21st Century: From Places to Regions. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre.

Research Grants

  • Principal Investigator/Applicant. "Economic Outcomes of Resource Dependent Rural Communities: Travel Assistance", University of Saskatchewan Research Acceleration Program, 2009, $4,000.
  • Principal Investigator/Application. "Economic Outcomes of Resource Dependent Rural Communities with Special Attention to Aboriginal Communities." International Development Research Centre, via RIMISP, Santiago, Chile. 2009. $24,500.
  • Principal Investigator/Application. "Economic Outcomes of Resource Dependent Rural Communities with Special Attention to Aboriginal Communities." International Development Research Centre, via Latin America-Canada Research Exchange Grant (LACREG) from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. 2009. $9,180.
  • Co-Applicant. "Measuring the Economic Spillover of Publicly Funded Research in Northern Canada." With David Natcher (PI), SSHRC. 2009-2010. $79,727.
  • Co-applicant. "Mapping the Rural-Urban Interface: Partnerships for Sustainable Infrastructure Development" Infrastructure Canada Contribution, SSHRC peer-reviewed. Mark Partridge, Applicant. 2006-2009, $250,000.
  • Co-applicant. "Adapting to New Environments: Agriculture and Rural Economies in the 21st Century." SSHRC-Knowledge Impact on Society. Murray Fulton, Applicant. 2006-2009, $200,000.
  • Co-applicant. "Linking, Learning, Leveraging: Social Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies, and Sustainable Communities." SSHRC-Social Economy Suite. Lou Hammond-Ketilson, Applicant. $1.75m, 2006-2011.
  • Collaborator "Agriculture and Agri-food Canada Innovation Network." 2005-2007, $750,000.
  • Co-applicant. "Mapping the Rural-Urban Interface: Partnerships for Sustainable Infrastructure Development" Infrastructure Canada Contribution, SSHRC peer-reviewed. Mark Partridge, Applicant. 2006-2009, $250,000.
  • Co-applicant. "Adapting to New Environments: Agriculture and Rural Economies in the 21st Century." SSHRC-Knowledge Impact on Society. Murray Fulton, Applicant. 2006-2009, $200,000.
  • Co-applicant. "Linking, Learning, Leveraging: Social Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies, and Sustainable Communities." SSHRC-Social Economy Suite. Lou Hammond-Ketilson, Applicant. 2006-2011, $1.75m.
Select Publications

Books

  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert. One Hundred Years of Evolution in the Rural Economy. In Jene Porter et. al. eds. Perspectives of Saskatchewan 1905-2005. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. (forthcoming)
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert , One Hundred Years of Evolution in the Rural Economy. In Jene Porter et. al. eds. Perspectives of Saskatchewan 1905-2005. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon: Canadian Institute for Society and Humanity.
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert. 2005. The Economic Structure of Saskatchewan's Communities. In Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center.
  • M. Rose Olfert. 2005. Farming in Saskatchewan. In Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert.2002. Saskatchewan Communities in the 21st Century: From Places to Regions. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 84 pp.
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert. 1999. The Evolution of Saskatchewan‘s Rural Communities. In K. Fung, ed., Atlas of Saskatchewan: Celebrating the Millennium. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: PrintWest.
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert. 1996. The Changing Role of Rural Communities in an Urbanizing World: Saskatchewan--An Update to 1995. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 56 pp.
  • Jack C. Stabler, M.R. Olfert and Murray Fulton. 1992. The Changing Role of Rural Communities in an Urbanizing World: Saskatchewan 1961-1990. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 64 pp.
  • Jack C. Stabler and M.R. Olfert. 1992. Restructuring Rural Saskatchewan: The Challenge of the 1990s. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre, University of Regina, 87 pp.
  • M.R. Olfert. 1976. A Simulation Model of Regional Economic Development with Application to Northern Saskatchewan. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon.
  • M.R. Olfert, et al. 1975. Churchill River Study, Socio-Economic Impact Report. Regina and Winnipeg: Queen's Printer, 287 pp., 8 Appendices.

Chapters

  • Partridge, Mark D. and M. Rose Olfert, 2009. "North American Rural-Urban Evolution and Government Policy Response," in Globalization and the Rural-Urban Divide ed. M Gopinath and H. Kim. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert, 2009. One Hundred Years of Evolution in the Rural Economy.  In Jene Porter et. al. eds.  Perspectives of Saskatchewan 1905-2005.  Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press. 
  • Jack C. Stabler and M. Rose Olfert, 2005. The Economic Structure of Saskatchewan's Communities.  In Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.  Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center.
  • M. Rose Olfert, 2005. Farming in Saskatchewan.  In Encyclopaedia of Saskatchewan.  Regina:  Canadian Plains Research Center

Refereed Articles

  • Partridge, Mark D., M. Rose Olfert and Kamar Ali. 2009. "Towards a Rural Development Policy: Lessons from the United States and Canada." Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy 39(2): 109-125.
  • Midmore, Peter, Mark D. Partridge, M. Rose Olfert and Kamar Ali. 2010. The Evaluation of Rural Development Policy: Macro and Micro Perspectives. Eurochoices forthcoming.
  • Berdegué, Julio, Félix Modrego, Eduardo Ramirez and M. Rose Olfert. 2009. "Balancing geography: New insights into rural development arise from Canadian-Chilean collaboration." In Horizons Magazine of IDRC.
  • Olfert, M. Rose and Mark D. Partridge. 2010."Introduction: Best Practices in 21st Century Rural Development and Policy." Growth and Change (Special Issue on Best Practices in Rural Development and Policy) forthcoming.
  • Partridge, Mark D., Md Kamar Ali, M. Rose Olfert. 2010. "Rural-to-Urban Commuting: Three Degrees of Integration." Growth and Change (Special Issue on Best Practices in Rural Development and Policy) forthcoming.
  • Kangayi, Chipo, M., Rose Olfert and Mark D. Partridge. "Co-operatives and Rural Community Population Growth: Evidence from a Canadian Study." Review of Regional Studies. forthcoming.
  • Ali, Kamar, M. Rose Olfert and Mark D. Partridge. "Urban Footprints in Rural Canada: Employment Spillovers by City Size." Regional Studies, forthcoming.
  • Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali, and M. Rose Olfert. "Do New Economic Geography Agglomeration Shadows Underlie Current Population Dynamics across the Urban Hierarchy?" Papers in Regional Science. Published online, Feb 5, 2009.
  • Bakhshi, Samira, Mohammad Shakeri M. Rose Olfert Mark D. Partridge, and Simon Weseen. 2009. "Do Local Residents Value Federal Transfers: Evidence from the Canadian Federation?" Public Finance Review 37(3):235-268.
  • Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali, and M. Rose Olfert. 2009. "Agglomeration Spillovers and Wage and Housing Cost Gradients across the Urban Hierarchy." Journal of International Economics. 78(1): 126-140.
  • Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali, and M. Rose Olfert. 2008. "Lost in Space: Population Growth in the American Hinterlands and Small Cities." Journal of Economic Geography 8(6): 727-757.
  • Olfert, M. Rose and Simon Weseen. 2008. "Cultural Policy in Saskatchewan." Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, Public Policy Paper 54.
  • Partridge, Mark D., Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali, and M. Rose Olfert. 2008. "Employment Growth in the American Urban Hierarchy: Long Live Distance" B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics: Contributions to Macroeconomics, 1st Quarter 2008, v. 8, iss. 1, pp. na06.
  • Partridge, Mark, Dan Rickman, Kamar Ali and M. Rose Olfert. 2008. "The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach" Land Economics 84(2): 241-266.
  • Partridge, Mark, Kamar Ali, and M. Rose Olfert. 2007. "Can Geographically Weighted Regressions Improve Regional Analysis and Policy-making?" International Regional Science Review 30(3): 300-309.
  • J Partridge, Mark, Dan S. Rickman, Kamar Ali and M. Rose Olfert. 2007. "The Landscape of Urban Influence on U.S. County Job Growth." Review of Agricultural Economics 29(3): 381-89.
  • Olfert, M. Rose and Simon Weseen. 2007. "Assessing the Viability of an Ethanol Industry in Saskatchewan." Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, Public Policy Paper 48, 23 pp.
  • Ferguson, Mark, Kamar Ali, M. Rose Olfert and Mark Partridge. 2007. "Voting with their Feet: Jobs vs. Amenities." Growth and Change 38(1): 77-110.
  • Partridge, Mark, Ray Bollman, M. Rose Olfert. 2007. "Riding the Wave of Urban Growth in the Countryside: Spread, Backwash, or Stagnation." Land Economics 83(2): 128-52.
  • Partridge, Mark, M. Rose Olfert, and Alessandro Alasia. 2007. "Canadian Cities as Regional Engines of Growth: Agglomeration and Amenities." Canadian Journal of Economics 40(1): 39-68.
  • Olfert, M. Rose and Diane Moebis. 2007. "The Spatial Economy of Gender-based Occupational Segregation." The Review of Regional Studies 36(1): 44-62.

Non-Refereed Articles

  • Olfert, M. Rose, Murray Fulton and Grace Skogstad. 2007. "The Last Straw." SIPP Briefing Note 21.
  • Partridge, Mark and M. Rose Olfert. 2006. "Debunking the Myth: The Rural Urban Divide in Saskatchewan." SIPP Policy Dialogue 13.

Download presentations by M. Rose Olfert.

Current Courses
  • BPBE 432 - Rural Development Theory Policy and Case Studies
  • BPBE 832 - Rural Development
  • BPBE 990 - Seminar
  • AGRC 113 - Agri Food Issues and Institutions
Current Research

Location Choices of Professionals

  • Spatial Distribution of Culture Occupations
  • Economic Outcomes for Resource Dependent Rural Communities: Canada and Latin America
  • Rural-Urban Interface: Infrastructure and Governance Challenges
  • Migration versus Commuting: Variations in Rural-Urban Interdependencies
  • The Role of Social Economy Enterprises in Rural Community Viability
  • Assessing the Impact of State Trading Enterprises
  • Rural Policies in North America: Missing the Mark
  • Urban Sprawl and Uncertainty, Productivity, and Inequality