Monthly Archives: February 2012
The federal budget: it’s (probably) time for a (mild) fiscal contraction
It is widely believed that the March 29 federal budget will make cuts in program spending, and the Conservative government seems to have done a very good job of preparing public opinion for them. I've written a few Economy Lab posts ([1], [2], [3]) on the topic without actually coming down on any side of […]
Why is research higher status than teaching?
It is a truth universally acknowledged: within academia, research has higher status than teaching. The question is, why? High status work is generally well paid work, and vice versa. Wages are determined by market forces, so supply and demand is the first place to look for an explanation for the high status of research.
The Economics of Street Performers
Well, I have had the ultimate travel and tourism experience by spending a few days in Las Vegas – my first time – and a place I can now best characterize as a Disneyland experience for adults.
Thoughts on Greece
Greece seems to have slipped below the front pages. We've moved on to other things. I haven't. I don't have much to say here, but I can't say nothing. This is too important. I'm just going to record my thoughts, for whatever little they are worth. I have been Googling around, trying to understand the […]
An update on the apparently non-existent Quebec recession
It's been five or six weeks since I noted that there was something strange about the Quebec LFS employment numbers. A one per cent drop in employment in the space of two months looked like the ohmygodweareallgonnadie months of early 2009, but there didn't seem to be any supporting story for why it was happening […]
Bad Table Manners
Dear Dr. Sloppytables, Thank you for your recent submission to Review of Economic Theory of Consumer Habits (RETCH). I skimmed the abstract and skipped right to the tables at the back of the paper. They are a mess.
Money as store of wealth?
This is something that always bugs me with the textbooks' definition of money. They start out well. They provide a functional definition of money; "money is what money does". If people in a given time and place use cigarettes as money, then cigarettes are money, in that time and place. Moneyness is not a property […]
Butterfly wings and meatgrinders
One of the Drummond Report's recommendations for the post-secondary sector is to: Create a comprehensive, enforceable credit recognition system between and among universities and colleges. This is an absolutely essential feature of differentiation [between universities]. Credit recognition could save individual students tens of thousands of dollars in tuition, and give them months or even years of […]
When professors stop being research active
University professors typically divide their time between teaching, research, and administration. In theory, and often in practice, professors' research informs their teaching, and teaching makes people better researchers. Yet, as time goes by, the research ideas come less frequently, it becomes harder and harder to "keep up with the literature", and a certain percentage of […]
Update on PBO Report on benefits for the elderly
Since my original post on the PBO Report (pdf), I have had a very useful email exchange with Chris Matier, the author of the Report. (It is to the PBO's credit that they really do want people to understand what they are saying, and are prepared to spend the time to help us.) This post […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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