Monthly Archives: September 2010
Blogging as crack
Compared to other forms of writing, especially academic writing, blogging is like crack. (Not that I would know, about crack I mean). It is cheap and easy; the hits come very quickly (once Stephen had invested all the years of hard work to get this blog going for the rest of us free-loaders); the hits […]
The house price fairy
The house price fairy visited me last night. She offered me three choices: she would instantly double all house prices; she would instantly halve all house prices; or she would leave all house prices the same. "You stupid fairy!" I replied. "Don't you know i already own this house, and I have no plans to […]
On the sources of Canada’s recession and recovery
The good news from the latest National Accounts release is that real GDP has recovered its pre-recession peak. In this post, I'm going to review how the Canadian fell into recession, and how it recovered.
Breakfast at Richard’s
This post was written by Simon van Norden of HEC-Montréal. A few weeks ago I blogged about the views of Richard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and self-described "inflation hawk." Mr. Fisher is an important man; among other things he was a voting member of the FOMC in 2008 and will […]
Time-shifting planned demand vs. permanently increasing actual demand
Most policies aimed at increasing demand merely time-shift planned demand. Does that mean they don't really work? Does it mean we get recovery now at the expense of an even bigger recession later? Do we just have to cross our fingers and hope that something else eventually comes along to increase demand in future? A […]
“It’s like having a private education within the public school system”
The demand for French immersion education in Vancouver so far outstrips the supply that the school board allocates places by lottery. But why? Is it because French is a useful employment skill? Because learning to speak French makes you a better person? Or is it because parents know intuitively what economists can show econometrically: peer […]
Re-learning the New Keynesian IS curve
I want to return to a topic I struggled with in the past. I think I understand it better now. I understand it better because I watched the video of George Evans that Mark Thoma made and posted. What I understand better now is not so much the answer; it's the question I was trying […]
Gender equity and vertical equity
I'm spending today writing a review of Caren Grown and Imraan Valodia's new book Taxation and Gender Equity.The review is for the journal Feminist Economics, but I'll give you an uncensored sneak preview of the good bits here.
Arrow, Schelling, and the Fed
Does the Fed want to loosen monetary policy? If so, why doesn't it do it? There are two answers (or at least, two simple answers) to this question: 1. The Fed doesn't want to loosen monetary policy. 2. The Fed wants to loosen monetary policy, but thinks it can't. I'm trying to come up with […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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