Monthly Archives: September 2007
Bad economic journalism o’ the day
From today’s Globe and Mail: GM deal ‘a black day’ for Canada’s auto sector: One of the key pillars supporting Canada’s long-standing competitive advantage in the auto industry began crumbling Wednesday, less than a week after another one collapsed. General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers reached a deal that shifts the burden of […]
Why I won’t be recording my lectures anytime soon
Mark Thoma is following the lead of Brad DeLong (among others) and has started recording his lectures. This is of course a very good idea, and I hope that the trend will continue. But it’s not for me – I lecture in French. "But Stephen," some of you may be asking, "isn’t that awfully anglo-centric […]
Manufacturing pointlessness
I can understand that the Toronto Star’s editorial board has fallen victim to the Manufacturing Obsession, and that it feels obliged to make the case that the interests of seven people who work outside the manufacturing sector are as nothing before those of a single Manufacturing Worker. But I can’t understand why it thinks that […]
The obligatory post about 1 CAD = 1 USD
Sometime today, two people traded one Canadian dollar for one US dollar. This has generated so much attention in the media and in the blogosphere that I feel obliged to say something meaningful. So here it is: Economists appear to live in a world that is one time derivative higher than the one that governs […]
What the Bank of Canada is thinking about
Now that the Fed has cut its interest rate by 50 bps, it’s time to start speculating about what the Bank of Canada will do on October 16. It should be noted that the Bank is dealing with a very different problem than the one facing the Fed. Indeed, it’s facing a problem that the […]
Extracting rents from the oil sands
The Alberta Royalty Review panel has just released its final report (105-page pdf). It echoes sentiments I voiced earlier, and advocates increasing a 20% increase in royalties: Oil sands royalties were set at a time when the very few participants in a fledgling industry were struggling. The royalty and tax regime for oil sands no […]
Mulroney’s economic legacy
Brian Mulroney’s* memoirs came out this week. The initial reactions have so far concentrated on his settling of accounts with Lucien Bouchard, but there have been a few comments about Mulroney’s desire to polish his claim to a positive judgment from future historians. This is of course the goal of all former politicians, but when […]
Who would think that economic history and the history of economic thought are not part of economics?
The Australian Bureau of Statistics, that’s who. Sandra Peart is appealing for help (more updates at her blog) and she should get it. Here is the letter she’s circulating: Dr. David Brett Australian Bureau of Statistics Asrc.comments@abs.gov.au Dear Dr. Brett, We urge you to reconsider the decision to “relocate” “economic history” and “history of economic […]
Hysteresis in the teaching of econometrics
When I last taught econometrics – some 10 years ago – there was a practical reason for why Bayesian methods played little or no role in the textbooks. Even though classical methods asked the wrong questions* and forced people to wade through a myriad of complicated and contradictory ways of answering them, it was at […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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