Monthly Archives: October 2005
An embarrassment of riches
The federal government has been running surpluses since 1997 (data available here), and these surpluses have been used to help drive Canada’s debt-to-GDP ratio from 89% down to 44%. But now that we’ve retreated well back from the debt wall, Canadians are starting to wonder if surpluses are really what we want. After all, there […]
Explaining the CAD-USD exchange rate: I
An enduring mystery of the Canadian economy is trying to figure out why the CAD-USD exchange rate is doing whatever it happens to be doing at any given moment. Notwithstanding popular opinion – an opinion that is all-too-often reinforced by commentators who should know better – the CAD-USD exchange rate isn’t like a stock price, […]
Productivity: Curiouser and curiouser
New Economist points us to a recent Bank of International Settlements study on productivity in OECD countries. The good news: Measures of productivity growth rates in Canada during 1995-2003 were about 0.5% higher than in 1986-1995. The disquieting comparison: The US improved its productivity growth rates by at least 1%. The puzzle: Notwithstanding the higher […]
Stocks and flows: Putting the hydro in hydroelectricity
Winter’s coming, so it’s time for Hydro-Québec to test the water. Happily, the news is good: Le Devoir: Hydro pourra répondre à la demande: Même si 55 000 nouvelles maisons se sont branchées sur son réseau cette année, même si le très bel été a fait baisser le niveau de l’eau dans ses réservoirs et […]
GDP vs ‘Progress and Happiness’
The New York Times reports on a conference in Nova Scotia: A New Measure of Well-Being From a Happy Little Kingdom* (registration req’d). [Thanks to the New Economist, who in turn thanks other two bloggers.] Everyone agrees that GDP is not the same thing as social welfare: economists learn this point early on in our […]
Diagnosing Dutch Disease
The Globe and Mail’s Heather Scoffield asks whether or not Canada is suffering from the ‘Dutch disease’: High oil, high dollar and Dutch disease (subscription req'd): The term Dutch disease was coined in the 1970s to describe Holland's experience with the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea. The sudden gas revenue drove up […]
Where did that current account surplus come from, anyway?
As I noted earlier, Canada is the only G7 country that is running current account and government balance surpluses these days. The story behind the government surplus is of course well-known, and will probably be the subject of another post. But what about that current account surplus? A cursory look at the data suggests a […]
Another view of the shift from manufacturing
Mark Thoma of Economist’s View is unconvinced by the optimistic tone of The Economist’s article on the shift from manufacturing in rich countries. As he notes in his comments page, he’s aware of the gains from trade, but he’s also concerned with the welfare of those who lose. That’s a sentiment I share. Mark’s quote […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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