Monthly Archives: November 2012
Advice for new Teaching Assistants
This is based on a short talk I have given several times to new TAs (mostly new graduate students) at Carleton. It's very basic. I think it should work for most subjects, not just economics. (Though maybe not as well for science and engineering where TAs run labs?). I think it should work for most […]
Forward guidance, borrowing degrees of freedom, and the inflation target horizon
This is something I do not understand very well. I'm writing this to try to help me think about it more clearly. Eight times a year, at each Fixed Announcement Date, the Bank of Canada does two things: it announces a target for the overnight rate until the next FAD; it provides some "forward guidance" […]
Thinking of coming to Canada to do an MA in Economics?
Every year, thousands of international students apply to Canadian MA programs in Economics. Studying abroad represents an investment of tens of thousands of dollars. Yet, without knowledge of Canadian customs and institutions, how can a student make the best of that investment? Here are some common questions international students ask (and some students don't ask […]
Bond Villains as Fiscal Stimulus
I’ve known my friend Harold since high school and over the years both of us have given a lot of thought to the problems of the Northern Ontario economy while watching much of its traditional economic base in resource extraction and processing slowly disappear. Harold has spent a good many years in the economic development […]
Five years of the Working Income Tax Benefit
Quietly, without (much) fanfare, Stephen Harper's Conservative government has been gradually promoting a new model for income support programs: the Working Income Tax Benefit, or WITB. On the face of it, WITB looks very similar to the Liberal government's signature program, Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB). Both WITB and CCTB provide cash support to low […]
Dumb econometrics questions/bleg on forecast probabilities
I'm bad at econometrics. I've got a couple of simple questions, that ought to have a simple answer. Noah Smith's post (HT Mark Thoma) reminded me of it. There are probably other students at the back of the econometrics class who don't know the answer either, so I'm going to ask for all of us.
Why politicians court the middle class
Raphael Deketele, a student in my fourth year honours seminar, just unearthed a strange finding from the 2006 World Values Survey (WVS). The WVS interviewed over 1000 Americans, and asked them: Here is a scale of incomes on which 1 indicates the “lowest income decile” and 10 the “highest income decile” in your country. We would […]
Provincial Debt Update
The 2012 Federal Fiscal Reference tables are out and the information on provincial net debt is interesting especially when the growth of net debt is considered.
“Cyclically-adjusted deficit” is not a macroeconomic concept
It shouldn't be, anyway. Tyler Cowen says: "These cyclically adjusted measures are useful information and should not be discarded, but I don’t wish to use them as the sole or main or dominant source of information about the stance of fiscal policy." I'm going to make a stronger claim. One I have made before.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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