Monthly Archives: November 2012
$600b debt x (2% inflation + 2.5% real growth) = $27b
Just a little bit of simple debt and deficit arithmetic. Let's adjust the deficit for long run inflation and long run real growth. That cuts the deficit by around $27 billion.
Four MC curves and two PPFs
Just another "Teaching" post. Because it's needed. (Though I have never taught micro beyond first year.) Marginal Cost means the change in Total Cost per extra unit of output. MC=dTC/dQ. (Not to be confused with Average Cost, which is the level of Total Cost divided by the level of output. AC=TC/Q.) Do MC curves slope […]
Carney’s Departure: The Bigger Picture
Well, it has been an exciting couple of days in Canada on the policy side given the juxtaposition of the following news: 1) the federal by-election results suggest a more competitive political environment for the federal Conservatives in the stronghold of Alberta 2) the world-class City of Toronto is deposing its Mayor over a conflict […]
Mark Carney to the Bank of England
You might think I have a lot to say about this. (A top UK newspaper just emailed asking me to write something.) I don't. I have very little to say. And what I do have to say is fairly obvious. I think Britain needs him more than Canada does, because the British economy is in […]
Elasticity, slope, scale, and collusion
Every year I teach "elasticity". And every year the students ask "Why not talk about "slope" instead?". They are familiar with "slope", but "elasticity" is a new concept. Why do we teach a new concept, if an old familiar concept would do just as well? [For non-economists: the slope of a demand curve is the […]
Questioning grades: a very short survey
If you've ever been a student or a teacher, please answer this seven question survey: Take part in our online survey I explain what the survey is about below the fold.
Why Harper is Not Going to Halifax
The provincial premiers are meeting on the economy in Halifax today and tomorrow and Prime Minister Harper will not be joining them. Several of them have offered up expressions of surprise and disappointment and have lamented the absence of the Prime Minister. The operatic drama that often characterizes exchanges at federal-provincial meetings has been absent […]
The students’ dilemma
Imagine a world where education is of no intrinsic value, and serves only as a signal of an unobservable character trait called "ability." Performance (which can be observed) is determined by both ability and effort. Effort is costly. Some students have a high level of ability, and some have a low level of ability. A professor's […]
Growing Ontario One Report at a Time
The Conference Board of Canada has chimed in on what ails Ontario and how to get it moving in a recently released report titled Needed: A Comprehensive Growth Strategy for Ontario. The report argues that after rebounding from the 2008-09 recession, Ontario has slipped into tepid growth of around 2 percent annually and needs a […]
Carbon taxes: The tomato test
Here is a test for any proposed carbon tax: does it create an incentive for people to make environmentally responsible tomato purchases? In winter, a Canadian faces two basic tomato options: hothouse tomatoes grown close(ish) to home, and field tomatoes imported from warmer climes, generally Mexico. Keeping a greenhouse at tomato growing temperature in the northern […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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