We are just curious to know who is reading this blog, and would love to know a little bit more about you, including those who don't usually comment.
1. What is your nationality or country of residence? (What proportion of our readers are Canadian?).
2. What is your profession/occupation? Private/government/education sector?
3. How much economics background do you have? None? Read a few economics books? Taken a few courses? BA, MA, PhD?
4. Any other comments or suggestions about the blog?
Feel free to comment anonymously, if you wish.
Thanks!
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
French
Education
PhD
Canadian
Programmer
MA Econ
Canadian
Student of Engineering
No economics background
Explanations of some basic concepts would be nice. Providing links to explanations of basic concepts would be just as nice.
First generation Canadian, second generation immigrant.
Unemployed.
One post-secondary economics course. Light reading online.
I come here because Maclean’s directs me to read selected posts.
Canadian
Lawyer in the securities business
ABD’ed out of a PHD Econ program in US after finishing my comps
Keep it coming. Most interested in the following:
– comparisons of Canada vs. other G8 countries
– unpacking Canadian monetary policy (what is going on, why are they doing it, what will happen next, what you think they’re right/wrong)
– publicly undressing dumb ideas by Canadian politicians (and I suppose praising what they’re doing right)
– publicly undressing dumb coverage by Canadian media (and highlighting those reporters who consistent give good coverage)
– tax policy in Canada
– reflections on what a economics-credible well thought out NDP economic policy might look like (some of the posts on income taxes vs. commodity taxes, and analogies to Nordic countries were quite interesting)
– commentary on debates in the US blogosphere (e.g. Krugman vs. Mankiw frequently seem to indirectly have a go at each other, sometimes on topics where a Canadian perspective might be interesting)
Canadian
Graduate student
PhD (in progress, 4th year)
A great blog! Economics…. Canadian… what more does one need?
Canadian
Government (policy analyst)
MA public administration, some intermediate economics
Like the blog a lot. Some of the more wonkish theory posts are not my personal cup of tea, but you’re a mainstay on my RSS reader. Would be happy to see more posts on social welfare policy (e.g., EI, housing) and ditto on Phil’s last two bullets
Thanks!
Canadian
Analyst/Business Officer (Government)
1 course (4 if you’ll count political economy), a few books
Irish (Canadian Perm. Res.)
IT Systems Administrator, Private Sector
A few econ courses on the way to a B.Sc. (Chemistry)
Canadian
computer programmer
No economics education, but have been educating myself by reading economists’ blogs
Thanks a lot for writing this blog. I can find a lot of material about the economic situation in the US, but there’s not much that is specific to Canada. I really appreciate finding the Canadian content.
4.4. Any other comments or suggestions about the blog?
Der…I’m too stoopid to reed it.
1.Canadian (Alberta)
2. Health Sector
3. A couple of course 25 years ago with my BA in poli sci.
Canadian (Ontario). Programming. Read a few economics books.
1 Canadian
2 government/research
3 taken a couple undergrad economics courses and econo-based courses during phd
4 the blog is great, esp. the willingness of both authors to engage questions etc…..one thing that would be nice is more highlighting where the two of you disagree on particular issues as a means of seeing where perspectives differ between the two of you and more generally in the field.
Canadian
Private sector (analyst)
A number of econ books, intro economics in university, other internet sources
Maybe some analysis of sacred cows in Canada that don’t get addressed very much (anymore, at least).
Russian
YorkU student.
Just from what I read.
More newbie-friendly explanation of the terms 😉
Canadian.
Internet marketing and real estate investor.
BSc Science, took a couple courses in economics.
Just keep doing what you’re doing.
Canadian
Returning to school this fall to do an MA at NIPSA
Political Science with a minor in Econ. I discovered this blog through Nick’s postings on DeLong’s blog and others.
Canadian
Asst. Professor, Engineering
Eng. grad course, now teaching Eng. Economics so couple of books.
Really like the Canadian specific perspective which is generally lacking in most econ blog coverage. Echo calls to keep unpacking and undressing ideas. Appreciate also seeing “stream of consciousness” exploration posts, its refreshing to read something that isn’t a pure argument for a position but reflects the “thinking path” and isn’t ashamed to highlight the open questions.
Vladimir: “2. Returning to school this fall to do an MA at NIPSA”
Should be NPSIA? Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (at Carleton, in the Faculty of Public Affairs, same as my faculty).
UK resident, Canadian citizen
Higher Education
Undergraduate-level courses
Canadian
Student
Working towards degree in econ
Canadian
Student undergrad, bio/cmpsci
Books
American
Professor/monetary crank
PhD economics
No suggestions, love the blog
Canadian
Programmer
Some econ courses / math major
No suggestions
Brazilian
Investment Banker
Master’s Degree
One of the top of my RSS list. Would like to stress I like the wonkish posts and especially the one in which CBs of a diff world would set the price of gold instead of rates…
Canadian.
Brokerage Industry – off doing child care right now.
I have read a fair amount on the subject – with a tendency toward less theoretical and more ‘market/trade’ related literature. I enjoy the usual blogs: econobrowser, brad setser, interfluidity, krugman, mankiw etc.
Would like to do a Math_Econ degree at Carleton.
Nick are you available for guidance counseling? 😉
Canadian
Financial Industry
A few courses and books
Would love to see a historical chart of Canadian public and private debt / gdp levels that stretches back at least to the 20’s so that we can judge the size of the Canadian (yes, aggregate) debt load vs. the Great Depression and the general trend. I think Stephen promised me something along those lines once 🙂 I’ve seen charts of this for Japan, Australia and the U.S. (all via Steve Keen, e.g.) but would love to see similar for other countries, in particular Canada, of course.
Also, I could be wrong here but most economists seem to think that the cure to the depression was government deficits rather than reduction in overall debt levels (see here for an example I just saw a few minutes ago, but they never seem to explain why – is there a commonly understood answer to this question? (hey, you asked for feedback 🙂
At any rate, even if you decide that you don’t do requests, I do enjoy the blog, particularly when it aggravates me.
Chris Spicer: Yes. Email me. NickunderscoreRoweatCarletondotca.
Chris: be careful though. This is what happened to the guy who went through Carleton’s Maths and Economics program back when I was last undergraduate supervisor: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lones/cv.pdf
U.S. (New York)
Software Engineer
Stuff I’ve read at online blogs, politics/econ discussion lists at work.
I’d appreciate if some acronyms were spelled out once/post or at least once in a while to help jog my memory when I’m unable to look stuff up due to being underground (on subway), where I do most of my reading. (Also, thanks for putting entire post contents in your RSS feeds for easy reading on subway 🙂
Canadian law student. Took introductory undergraduate econ courses at Carleton (Professor Rowe spoke at my orientation) and econ policy courses at York.
US (Colorado/Nebraska)
Private – Finance, Freelance Writing
BA Econ, but have pretty much immersed myself in the world of economics since high school, with a specific emphasis on monetary and behavioral economics.
I don’t really like making requests of blogs…creative authorship is the spice of my blogroll =].
Canadian (British Columbian)
Journalist for summer, economics masters student in the fall
BA
I started following this blog because I thought it would be a good way to keep up to date on Canadian economic current events, and to develop my understanding of macroeconomics (I just finished my undergrad in econ, and have a much better grasp of micro than macro). However, I usually read blogs at the end of the day when I’m tired. I find many of the posts on this blog too technical and long to wrap my head around without investing considerable time and effort. I’d prefer more concise posts that are a little lighter on the theory so it requires less effort to understand.
Canadian living in the UK.
Fund manager.
Phd, econ.
don’t change a thing.
Spaniard
Accountant/part-time professor of economics
Master Econ. Student
Like your blog a lot
May I make you a question, prof. Rowe? Were you born in Canada? I heard you speak in the video you posted here and it seemed to me that your accent were not canadian. Maybe I am mistaken.
British
Commercial (I run a software and economics consultancy, and write a related blog)
No formal economics background beyond a year in high school – undergraduate degree is maths and physics. Have consumed lots of economics books, seminars, blogs and journal articles. Considering an economics PhD and would be interested in thoughts from other readers.
This is one of the blogs I most look forward to. I especially like Nick’s intellectual style which is very compatible with how I think about problems (I guess I acquired this modelling approach either from reading Krugman or from designing software, which are surprisingly congruent activities). I think the content is about the right level for me – always gives me a lot to think about and often a really interesting puzzle to solve as I work through the argument. Stephen’s posts tend to actually be about Canada, which is not a direct interest of mine, but each to his own, eh?
I have a few questions of my own if I may:
What are your goals in writing the blog? Are you achieving them?
How much time does it take? Is it something that you see as an intrinsic part of your academic role and are you (and your department) happy with the opportunity cost of that time? I notice quite a few academic bloggers start their blogs during a sabbatical or other time off.
How many readers do you have? Is that an important measure of success for you or are there others?
1.Japanese
2.salaryman in private sector
3.Just what I learned from books and blogs
4.Maybe some graphs and diagrams could help in understanding when discussing theoretical things. And describing ideas in relation to orthodoxy such as Keynes may also help (Well, that’s why I keep quoting Keynes in my comments :).
Irish, live in Dublin.
Retired, do a bit of freelance work when the opportunity arises. Worked in banking and corporate treasury 1971-2001, with a break in the 1980s when I went back to college full-time.
Masters in economics from UCD. I am mostly interested in the history of macro – Keynes and Hicks especially – and where it all went wrong.
I like the blog. As a rule I only comment on statements I disagree with. I hope that doesn’t make me appear too disputatious.
Proudly Canadian
Financial management in utility
MBA (Finance/Economics dual major)
Keep up the good work (especially the criticism of Neil Reynolds columns in the G&M!)
Canadian
Law Student
Have a minor
Keep up the great work!
Canadian
Technical writer
MA, Econ + finance diploma
CanadianCollege ESL teacherBA (financial & economic studies)I read every post and have been doing so for over a year. You both strike me as honest in laying out where you come from, examining opposing ideas, not pretending to know everything, and admitting when you’re wrong. Nick’s musings regularly assume more knowledge than I have. Stephen’s graphs usually speak for themselves, but occasionally they seem to only mumble in my direction.
AGC: I was born in England, and came to Canada after completing my BA, in order to do an MA economics. Liked it here, and stayed.
Leigh:
1. I’m not sure what my goals are in blogging. Mainly selfish. It interests me. It’s a great way to be engaged in the economics conversation.
2. I worry about the time I spend (a lot). Here are my thoughts on the academic value of blogging: http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthwhile_canadian_initi/2009/02/economics-blogging-and-academia.html . My department and university seem to approve, but (understandably) don’t seem to have formulated a position on how much time it’s OK to spend doing this, and how much it counts.
3. I don’t know how many readers we have. Stephen has some stats on page views, I think.
Australian
Government
MSc (Econ)
For an Australian, a Canadian perspective on macro policy issues is a refreshing break from the huge amount of US-focussed blogging (as good as a lot of this is). As well, certainly at present the Canadian experience has a lot of parallels with Australia. Keep up the great posts. Cheers
Canadian
Private sector
PhD in the sciences, no formal economics training
One of my favourite blogs on the Web, I think the mix of real-life examples vs theory is excellent
Canadian
Computer Science, Private Industry
Nothing substantial
n/a
American although my mother was Canadian and I’d move to Victoria if I could
BA Philosophy/Linguistics Grad. School no degree Philosophy I ran a bookstore for 25 years Now retired Writing novels and blogging
I’ve read lots of econ, but mostly twenty years ago. For a while, I worked on a book on Vol. 2 of Capital, and another one focusing on Marx and Jevons. I read Keynes, Jevons, Mills, logical works, before I read their economics works. At one point, I had a library of well over 1000 econ books. The first econ books I read were in high school: Samuelson and Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophers. I tend to see econ as Heilbroner presented it in that book. I have to admit that I prefer reading older economists. I really need help understanding the current theories, and your blog helps me in that.
I comment on blogs that I enjoy to show my support, not because I have any expertise. I read blogs to learn, and I learn a great deal from your blog. The fact that you go to such trouble to be clear, examine issues at their roots, throw out ideas even if you’re not sure about them, and, importantly, try and respond to comments even if they’re not presented in scholarly form, makes this blog about as good as it gets. Finally, I want to encourage non-experts to comment, since they can often add to the discussion.
Italian, working in the US.
Researcher in a large corporate research laboratory.
PhD in Operations Research. Many courses in micro theory and financial mathematics. Completely illiterate in macro, which makes me an easy target.
I enjoy longer posts. So WCI is good for me.
Canadian
I.T. (Hardware/Software Support)
No Econ Background, simply an interest in personal finance.