Farid Novin
Farid Novin is a Canadian economist. He served as Senior Representative of Bank of Canada in British Columbia and Yukon, from 1992 to 2014.
Early life
Novin was born in 1947 in Isfahan, Iran. His father, Mohammad Hassan Novin, worked as a parliamentary adviser to several prime ministers, including Hoveyda, Amoozgar, Gen. Azhari, Sharif Emami, and Bakhtiar. His mother Soroor Panahandeh was an official in the Ministry of Health in Iran.Early education in Iran
Due to his father's various postings, Novin's education took place in multiple cities:- Primary education: Semnan and Rasht
- Secondary education: Mashhad and Tehran
- Bachelor's degree: Economics, National University of Iran
Professional career in Iran
Following his military service, Novin joined the Plan and Budget Organization (Iran) as a budget analyst for higher education. His responsibilities included:
- Negotiating and determining budgets for the Ministry of Higher Education
- Overseeing budgets for various universities and research institutions, including:
Art reviews, literary research and play-write
Novin was one of the first supporters of Cinemaye Azad or Free Cinema in Iran, that was created by a small group of students from Tehran’s Dramatic Arts university in 1969. His monthly reports in Negin magazine for the first time seriously reviewed and introduced the young filmmakers of this cinema such as Hassan Bani Hashemi, Kianoush Ayari, Behnam Jafari, Shahryar Parsipour, Nasraleh Shibani, Farhad Pourazem, Ali Yeganeh, Mohammad Farhomand, and Amir Afshari to the readers.
Further studies in Europe and Canada
In 1975, Novin left for Europe to continue his studies. His studies in Europe and Canada allowed him to obtain the following degrees:- Postgraduate Diploma in Socio-economic Planning, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands
- Advanced Diploma in Development Economics, Manchester University, England
- Master's degree in Economics, Manchester University, specializing in Monetary economics and Development Economics
- Ph.D. in Economics, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, specializing in Econometrics and Monetary Policy
Career in Canada
He was Assistant Professor of Economics at Concordia University Montreal, and adjunct professor of finance at the Sauder School of Business at University of British Columbia. He has served in various departments of Bank of Canada as Energy specialist, Economic Projection, and Credit Analyst before taking a leading role in the Regional Office of Bank of Canada in BC and Yukon.In this capacity, he directed research and analysis on economic and financial developments in the region. He also played a major role in communicating the Bank’s messages to a variety of audiences and promoted an exchange of views on the economy and monetary policy.
Apart from his academic papers, he is the author of a number of research articles published in the Bank of Canada Review. Since launching The Global Review—his analytical blog on global socio-economic developments—Novin has emerged as an analytical voice in the contemporary blogging and online socio-economic journalism landscape. What began as a pedagogical tool for his students has evolved into a widely followed platform, attracting a diverse readership well beyond the classroom on LinkedIn, X, and other digital forums.
Dave Formosa, President of the Chamber of Commerce, recounted that he had invited Novin to Powell River following a meeting a year prior. At that earlier occasion, Novin had forecasted that Canada was at the forefront of recovering from the economic downturn—a prediction that, as Formosa noted, had indeed proven accurate. — Laura Waltz, Powell River Peak, November 25, 2009