Monthly Archives: March 2013
Fiscal policy with Old and New Keynesian IS curves
With the Old Keyensian IS curve, the natural rate of interest is a positive function of the level of government expenditure. High G means high r*. With the New Keynesian IS curve, the natural rate of interest is a negative function of the rate of change of government expenditure over time. High Gdot means low […]
Federal Budget Forecasting
What a difference just a few months can make in the world of federal government finance. Apparently, weak commodity prices and a slowing economy are playing such havoc with government finances that Thursday’s federal budget will show a downward revision of economic growth forecasts as well as a shortfall in revenue that will be addressed […]
Deposit insurance, bank runs, international currencies, and the inflation tax
Just a short post on one point about the recent Cyprus business. (It looks like Cyprus will impose a "one-time tax" on bank deposits rather than honour its deposit insurance.)
Was Canada ever the best place in the world?
A revised and updated version of this post is on the Globe and Mail website here. Thanks to all of the WCI commentators who helped me get my head around the HDI calculations. For much of the 1990s, Canada topped the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI). Newspaper headlines and politicians declared we were the […]
Boys, retention, and multiple regression
A followup to my previous post on university retention and males. Assume boys and girls are identical, except: there's something in the water at high schools that causes boys to do worse than girls; and there's something in the water at universities that causes boys to do worse than girls. Suppose you had a data […]
Son Spots: The merits of dynasties
Politics seems to run in families. The question is: why? Why would electors choose the son, daughter or spouse of a successful politician over other candidates who are, on paper at least, equally or more qualified? An economist is in no position to answer this question, but is ably equipped to theorize about it.
Frivolous Fees and Serious Money
Over on Ramblings and Musings, University of Toronto professor Victor Ivrii is thinking about frivolous fees. His article is prompted by a National Post piece on "Sanctioned sex club events and Israeli Apartheid Week". The National Post article asks: Why is their money going to support controversial events, such as Israeli Apartheid Week or the “Epic […]
The intercept is negotiable, the slope is fixed
A new hire only gets one chance to negotiate: a brief window between the time that an offer is made and the time when that offer is accepted. Those initial terms and conditions determine the employee's salary for years to come – possibly the entire the duration of his or her time at the institution. […]
The fantasy world of retirement planning
For complicated historical reasons, I hold $13,000 in a locked-in RRSP with Great West Life. A few days ago, I received a "Year-End Retirement Illustration", shown over the fold. I read it and thought "That's so bad, it's bloggable."
Measuring Popes
With the Conclave of Cardinals about to convene to choose a successor to Benedict XVI, it is worth taking a look at some statistics regarding the line of popes over the course of 2000 years. Based on the list in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Benedict XVI was the 267th pope in a line stretching back to […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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