Monthly Archives: May 2011
Sellers and buyers
I must have met thousands of people whose job is to sell things. Right now, I can only think of one person I have met whose job is to buy things. Why that massive asymmetry? Three possible explanations, off the top of my head:
Is core inflation an artefact?
Headline inflation (total CPI inflation) has been above core inflation since last June. That's for Canada, but it's roughly the same in most other countries too. Most central banks, and most economists, pay more attention to core inflation than total inflation as an indicator of underlying inflationary pressures. Core inflation has inertia, and so is […]
A Marketing and Brand Management Guy Examines the Liberal Campaign
Since everybody else is kicking the Liberals while they are down, I thought I'd join in the fun. I've taught marketing at the University level and my private-sector day job is mostly marketing. As someone who does marketing for a living, I found the last Liberal campaign truly baffling.
The Liberal dilemma: centrist or centralist?
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Canada's Liberal party as centrist. If this is true, then their collapse can be explained by a splintering of the electorate, so fewer Canadians identify with the centre, or by an increase in political competition. Now other parties, such as the Greens, compete for the centrist vote. While both these stories […]
Is Toronto Leading Canada’s Economic Recovery?
Statistics Canada has just released the most recent building permit numbers and they show that municipalities issued building permits worth $6.8 billion in March 2011, a 17.2% increase from February and a level not seen since June 2007. Moreover, the gain was mostly the result of advances in the residential and non-residential sectors in Ontario.
Money, interest, employment, and luck
Monetary disequilibrium theorists must face this question: "If this recession was caused by an excess demand for money, how come interest rates are so low? Doesn't an excess demand for money mean an excess supply of bonds and rise in interest rates?" [Warning: this post is long, rambling, and unclear. I ought to tear it […]
The Efficient Election Market Hypothesis
I'm not displeased by the election results last night. But. Economists talk about "Market Failure" — cases where markets will not lead to an efficient (Pareto Optimal) allocation of resources, because of: market power; externalities; asymmetric information; adverse selection; moral hazard; etc. Good economists then go on to talk about "Government Failure". Just because the […]
A Short Assessment of Federal Election 2011 Results
With the election over and a Conservative majority government, one can expect to see a continuation of current federal economic policy with respect to lower corporate taxes, targeted spending programs, as well as a more explicit articulation and implementation of a philosophy of smaller government.
Riding the Loser Cruiser
People will use public transit if it's the lowest cost way of getting from point A to point B. Costs have three components. The first is money costs – the cost of gas or a bus fare or a train ticket. The second is time costs – the opportunity cost of time spent driving or […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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