Monthly Archives: August 2015
Interest rate control as beta-anachronism
I want to make a minor point to follow up on something important that David Glasner said: "Nevertheless, our basic mental processes for understanding how central banks can use an interest-rate instrument to control the value of money are carryovers from an earlier epoch when the value of money was determined, most of the time […]
Problems with the Fraser Institute inequality study
This post was written by Mike Veall of the Department of Economics at McMaster University. Last week the Fraser Institute published a study that one of the co-authors, Christopher Sarlo, summarized in the Globe and Mail (Is the income gap growing? It depends who you measure, Thursday, July 30). This blog expands on my 150 word letter […]
On defining “recession”
The precise definition of "recession" seems to be topical in Canada right now. (I know this because my daughter phoned to ask me the definition.) It's a mug's game. I won't play. (Do geographers waste their time arguing about the precise definition of "mountain"?) I hear that the "technical" definition of "recession" is two consecutive […]
Or perhaps women’s offices actually are colder?
Another day, another article about the gendered impacts of air conditioning. Here's the story: North American offices are air conditioned to a temperature which is, from a female perspective, too cold. Women shiver at their desks; men are just fine. It's a serious environmental issue. When women have office space heaters cranked up in July […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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