Author Archives: wciecon
Existentialism and the non-neutrality of money language
OK, this post is a little on the whimsical side. The argument is a lot less strong and clear than I would like it to be. But sometimes you just have to say what's in your head, and hope that will help it get clearer. Read at your own risk (as if that needed saying). […]
Canada’s redistribution policy: take from the rich, give to the … median?
Much of the public debate on income inequality focuses on what is happening with market incomes. But most people generally accept that a certain level of inequality in market incomes is inevitable, and indeed necessary in order to provide the sort of incentives that generate economic growth. What really matters is inequality of income net […]
The legal scope of Fed purchases
This is a guest post by JP Koning: Any central bank that wants to be Chuck Norris-like requires the legal authority to purchase a broad array and quantity of assets. Without the legal ability to conduct broad purchases, a central bank’s threat to enforce a new target will lack credibility. The Federal Reserve Act significantly […]
IT vs PLPT vs NGDPLPT for the Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada's 2% inflation target comes up for renewal every five years, and it's up for renewal now. To my mind, there are only three serious candidates: IT. Inflation Target. Keep the existing 2% Inflation Target (with maybe minor amendments). PLPT. Price Level Path Target. Like inflation targeting, and with the same 2% […]
Reality TV as union busting?
TV writers and actors get paid decent money, because they're unionized. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists's contract specifies fees for every type of TV appearance. Reality TV stars are not "television and radio artists" and do not need to be paid union rates. Reality television shows can feature non-union performers without violating AFTRA agreements. This […]
Greg Ip on NGDP targeting
Greg Ip (once one of our Carleton students, I'm proud to say) is not opposed to NGDP level path targeting. But he is not very enthusiastic about how well it would work. Greg starts with a US anecdote, about a businessman who told Paul Volcker that he didn't think Volcker would succeed in driving inflation […]
Does Economic Growth Lower Workplace Absenteeism?
It’s just past the middle of the term and the number of students coming to class seems to have taken a bit of a drop and there seem to be a lot of people off sick. It has also been a particularly gloomy few days in the news with talk of recessions and rumors of […]
The Agenda on the Limits to Economics
Last Friday, TVO's show "The Agenda" broadcast an hour-long discussion on the limits of economics, sparked by Dan Ciuriak and John Curtis's working paper "What if everything we know about economic policy is wrong?" The discussion featured University of Western Ontario economist David Laidler, Barnard College's Perry Mehrling, Thorsten Koeppl, a professor of economics at Queen's University, […]
A preliminary estimate for Canadian 2011Q3 GDP growth
The August 2011 GDP numbers are out, so it's time for my quarterly attempt to provide an estimate for quarterly GDP growth a month before Statistics Canada releases its first estimates – the most recent exercise is here. This is done by using simple linear regression model of monthly GDP growth on monthly LFS data […]
Whatever happened to black cat toffee?
Back in the day, name brand chocolate – Coffee Crisp, Mars bars – made up a small percentage of the average trick-or-treat haul. I remember getting candy apples, rockets, tootsie pops, suckers, caramels, "boiled sweets" (hard sugar candy), raisins and the dread black cat toffee. Nothing – in terms of quality or in terms of […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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