Alex’s research has focused on the causes and consequences of government policies at the local level as well as the economics of higher education and innovation. Recent research has explored the impact of public transport infrastructure on air pollution, universities on local economic growth, housing bubbles on the size of city governments, and city governance structures on the costs of public financing. His research has received financial support from the National Science Foundation and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Whalley graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1998, earned an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia in 1999, and completed his doctorate in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2006. URL: http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/awhalley