Monthly Archives: December 2009
Car insurance, home ownership, and efficient markets
I don't insure my car. Well, I have liability insurance, but I don't insure the car itself. So if I drive it into a ditch, or it gets stolen, I have to pay to repair or replace it, out of my own pocket. Why did I take this decision? I could have estimated the probability […]
Why export growth isn’t a necessary condition for a sustained expansion
The Globe and Mail's Kevin Carmichael called me yesterday to talk about the idea that Canada's recovery won't be fully underway until exports started to increase at a significant rate. My comments didn't make the cut for the print edition, but they are in the online version of the story: Not all economists are convinced […]
Climate change talk is cheap, and Canadians are bargain hunters
Some numbers to consider: Percentage of Canadians who tell pollsters that "Climate change is mankind's defining crisis, and demands a commensurate response": 65. In the 2008 federal election, percentage of votes cast for political parties that acknowledged that any meaningful climate change policy would affect consumer prices: 33. In the 2008 federal election, percentage of […]
Damage report
Several recent items have been brought to my attention, providing additional confirmation – if any was needed – that the recession is over: Last Friday's Labour Force Survey for November (more below); Today's release for building permits in October; and Garth Turner has stopped selling survivalist merchandise. It's time to assess the damage.
Why do (bad) banks (really) matter?
I'm going to put forward two perspectives on why bad banks might be important in understanding the recession: an orthodox perspective; and a heterodox perspective.
When did Canada’s recession end? A WCI poll
Canada doesn’t have a counterpart to the NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee, so we don’t have a reference set of dates for previous business cycles. I’m pretty sure that most analysts would agree that the most recent expansion hit its peak in October of 2008, but picking a trough looks less obvious. My understanding of […]
Canada’s housing starts are following the recovery script
The rebound in the sales and prices of houses in Canada has been making quite a few headlines. That's not bad news, but for those of us looking for signs of recovery, what really matters is whether or not it is being translated into real economic activity.
Reflections on teaching very basic finance to first year economics students
Today I taught basic finance to my first year economics class. We don't have time to cover all the micro chapters, so have to skip some. In the past we skipped the finance chapter. This year we decided to include the basic finance chapter, and skipped consumer choice (indifference curves and budget constraints) instead. That […]
Taxing the rich is harder than you think
In this post on Ed Broadbent's suggestion for a 6 ppt increase in the income tax rates faced by people earning $250k or more, I mentioned that some serious econometric work had to be done before this could be treated as a meaningful proposal. It soon occurred to me that there very likely had been […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments