Monthly Archives: April 2013
Montreal: An Island of Calm?
The latest release on the value of building permits for Canada's CMAs by Statistics Canada provides an interesting perspective on a slowing economy. The numbers show that there has been a downward trend in the total value of permits since late 2012.
A day in the life of a behavioural economist
A key insight of behavioural economics is that people don't always do what is in their own long term interests. Our inner planner sets goals – complete that paper, write that referee's report, floss. Our inner doer – who has all the perseverance of Homer Simpson – fails to follow through, and sabotages the planner's best intentions. […]
What’s a man worth on the dating market?
Last fall I stopped talking about the economics of gender, and began talking about the economics of sex. It was wonderful. So much can be discussed under the rubric of economics of sex. Take, for example, the pick-up artist phenomenon, described in books like The Game. It's like Cesar Millan's Dog Whisperer books, urging men to be alphas, take […]
Canadian universities: reading the writing on the wall
The Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) is the only university under direct federal control, thus recent developments there indicate the Harper government's vision for post-secondary education. This CAUT-commissioned report, whose authors include eminent economist Robin Boadway (an RMCC grad and ardent supporter of the college), describes a number of developments that merit close attention.
Diagnosing Hospitals
CBC’s Fifth Estate has put together a ranking of Canadian hospitals and the results are out. They provide a new online tool that grades hospitals on key performance indicators reported by hospitals and justify it as a call for more accountability and transparency in the Canadian health care system. Given the inevitable complexity of ranking […]
We’re free up here too, eh?
Paul Krugman has recently taken aim at the rhetoric of the US right: From the enthusiastic reception American conservatives gave Friedrich Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom,” to Reagan, to the governors now standing in the way of Medicaid expansion, the U.S. right has sought to portray its position not as a matter of comforting the comfortable […]
Who Gets What Federalism
The recent Mowat Centre report on Ontario’s fiscal gap with Ottawa and the lament that Ontario puts more into Confederation than it gets out brought to mind a poll done in 2005 by EKOS that showed that 51 percent of Canadians believed their province was putting more money into Confederation than it gets out. Of […]
Things students do that aren’t annoying
Female Science Professor's blog recently featured a discussion of annoying things students do, like asking "Did I miss anything important" or "Is that going to be on the test" (the two questions FSP's readers voted the most annoying.) The purpose of the FSP posts is, in part, to generate good practical advice for students, and […]
Modern LM curves are vertical
Modern teaching of modern macroeconomics and modern monetary theory should reflect modern monetary policy — what modern central banks actually do nowadays. That means the modern LM curve is vertical.
Can an element of danger make life safer?
photo from ncc.gc.ca In Ottawa-Gatineau, the standard rules of the road apply to recreational pathways. People cycle, roller-blade or walk on the right. Slower traffic keeps to the far right-hand side of the path. In theory, it's safe. Everyone knows which side of the pathway they are supposed to be on. Having a […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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