Monthly Archives: June 2009
Canadian long-term interest rates are increasing as well
A certain amount of attention has been focused on the recent jump in the yields on longer-term US government bonds. There are at least two interpretations: 1) This is good news. In normal times, an increase in the spread between long- and short-term interest rates would be interpreted as a signal that the economy is […]
Is fiscal conservatism about deficits or debt?
I was on CPAC Sunday evening, on a roundtable with two other economists: David MacDonald (who coordinated the alternative budget for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives); and Glen Hodgson (Chief Economist for the Conference Board). [You can watch it here – SG.] The topic was Canada's projected $50 billion federal deficit; should we be […]
Why share-of-GDP is the correct measure for the size of government
In this post, I made the point that as a share of GDP, program expenditures by the federal government are less than what John Diefenbaker saw, and my conclusion was that the whole "runaway spending" meme was just silly. On his blog, Andrew Coyne added his voice to this chorus. When I made the point […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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