Below are some of my research projects. My research interests focus on technology and society issues, data visualization and analytics, and network theory and analysis.
Bendix, W., & MacKay, J. (Forthcoming) Fox in the Henhouse: The Delegation of Regulatory and Privacy Enforcement to Big Tech. International Journal of Law and Information Technology.
MacKay, J. (Conference paper/manuscript). Is best really better? A design system to compare forecasting models.
MacKay, J. 2022. Data Discovery Challenge Using the COVID-19 Data Portal from New Zealand. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 30(2): 187–190.
MacKay, J. 2021. “Re-connecting the public service: Openness and data sharing during the COVID19 pandemic.” In J. Toland (Ed.), From Yesterday to Tomorrow: 60 Years of Tech in New Zealand. (Link)
These papers bring computational methods to bear on topics ranging from history, trade and politics. Despite the diverse topics, all of these papers reflect my interest in network theory and analysis. This was the area of interest for my dissertation.
MacKay, J. 2019. “Explaining Declining Economic Complexity in Canada: An Examination of Oil and Automotive Exports.” In M. S. Bonham (Ed.), Trade-Offs: The History of Canada-U.S. Trade Negotiations (1st edition): 147-170. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Business History Association.
https://www.amazon.ca/Trade-Offs-History-Canada-U-S-Trade-Negotiations/dp/0993960057
Bendix, W., Mackay, J. 2017. “Partisan Infighting Among House Republicans: Leaders, Factions, and Networks of Interests” Legislative Studies Quarterly, 42(4): 549-577.
https://doi.org/10.1111/LSQ.12168
Mackay, J. 2017. “Canadian Regional and National Business Elites in 1912: Who Was Connected, Who Wasn’t and Why?” A History of Socially Responsible Business, c.1600-1950: 189-212. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, United Kingdom.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-60146-5_8
MacKay, J. 2017. “Dealing with Big Data and Network Analysis Using Neo4j and Python” Programming Historian. Programming Historian is both a peer-reviewed book and a website that remains open to contributions from the academic community.
https://programminghistorian.org/en/lessons/dealing-with-big-data-and-network-analysis-using-neo4j
MacKay, J. 2015. “Network Theory.” The SAGE Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation, edited by Craig Carroll. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE.
https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-corporate-reputation/i6009.xml
MacKay, J. 2020, March 27. “Tracking your location and targeted texts: How sharing your data could help in New Zealand’s level 4 lockdown.” The Conversation, New Zealand. (Link)
This op-ed is based on our Partisan Infighting paper, above.
MacKay, J., Bendix, W. 2017, March 26. “Republican infighting key for candidate Trump. Now it’s a roadblock.” The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Canada.
Link to op-ed http://goo.gl/RQA4Ov
See the PDF version of the op-ed here.
This paper is the result of my independent project during my master's degree in Economics. The paper uses a regional economic analysis technique called shift-share. The method lacks any specific mechanism to account for regional connectedness. This caused me to become more interested in network analysis.
Brox, J., Carvalho, E., and MacKay, J. 2010. “Regional Employment Changes in a Booming Resource Economy: A Modified Shift-Share Analogue Regression of Changes in Employment Patterns Within the Economic Regions of Alberta.” Canadian Journal of Regional Science, 33(2): 25-44.
https://idjs.ca/images/rcsr/archives/V33N2-Brox-Carvalho-Mackay.pdf