Professor Maurice J. Roche

Department of Economics, Ryerson University

Dr. Maurice Roche received a B.A. in Economics from University College Dublin in 1982, an M.A. in Economics from University College Dublin in 1983, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Queen’s University, Kingston in 1991. Between finishing his M.A. and starting his Ph.D. in 1987, Dr. Roche worked as an external economic consultant for the Incorporated Law Society of Ireland and as a member of the teaching staff in the National University of Ireland Maynooth, University College Dublin, Dublin City University and the Dublin Institute of Technology.

In 1988, Dr. Roche worked as an economist at the World Bank in Washington D.C., while pursuing his Ph.D. in Economics. Dr. Roche was a faculty member of the National University of Ireland Maynooth from 1991 until joining Ryerson University as a Professor in 2008. During this period Dr. Roche was a visiting professor in The Queen’s University of Belfast and Queen’s University, Kingston.

Dr. Roche had a number of concurrent appointments while a faculty member of the National University of Ireland Maynooth. In 1996, he was an economic advisor to the chief economist of the Irish Prime Minister and to the chief economist of the Minister of Agriculture. Between 1998 and 2004 he was the senior econometrics advisor to a major Irish government agri-food economics research project involving all of the universities in Ireland and the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri and Iowa State University. During this time period Dr. Roche was also appointed to an Irish government steering committee for this research project.

Dr. Roche has researched on a number of topics including foreign exchange rates, international business cycles, house price bubbles and commodity pricing. He has numerous peer reviewed publications in international economics and finance journals, including publishing in the top journal in three fields of economics, notably the Journal of Monetary Economics, the Journal of International Economics and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Between 1996 and 2007, Dr. Roche and his research teams were awarded just over $1 million in funding. Notably, €154,000 over three years (2007-2010) from the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences under the Government of Ireland Thematic Research Project Grants Bi-Lateral Scheme (with the British ESRC), €282,000 over three years (2003-2006) from the Irish Higher Education Authority under the North-South Programme for Collaborative Research and €275,519 over five years (2002-2007) under Cycle 3 of the Irish Higher Education Authority’s Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions.

Dr. Roche has taught courses in economics and finance from introductory to Ph.D. level. He has supervised students in over 200 undergraduate research papers, over 40 Master’s research papers and 6 Ph.D. dissertations. Dr. Roche has served on numerous university administrative committees. In 2019, Ryerson University awarded him with the Errol Aspevig Award for Outstanding Academic Leadership.