Author Archives: wciecon
The behavioural economist’s dilemma: induction versus deduction
This summer I went to a conference for behavioural economists and economic psychologists. The presentations were entertaining. Did you know that when coffee is given a fair trade label, people say it tastes better, even if it's just regular coffee? And fair trade coffee, without the fair trade label, doesn't taste as good?* Did you […]
Is the Dreaded Double Dip Near?
Statistics Canada has released the Canadian economic accounts with GDP estimates for the second quarter of 2011. Overall, real gross domestic product or GDP declined by 0.1 percent in the second quarter following a 0.9 percent increase in the previous quarter.
2 into 17 won’t go
Hans-Olaf Henkel (H/T Larry Willmore) suggests splitting the Eurozone seventeen into two. He wants Germany, Austria, Finland, and the Netherlands to leave the Euro and create their own new common currency. The remaining countries would keep the Euro. I don't think this would work. (But I agree a lot with the other things he says). […]
On trends in employment rates in Canada
I drew attention to Statistics Canada's updated projections for demographic trends a few weeks ago; the reason for being concerned about them is that unless worker productivity and/or rates of return on retirement savings increase dramatically, per-capita incomes are likely to fall as 8-12 per cent of the population ages out of the workforce. Of […]
The Eurozone Tea Party and the Lender of Last Resort
The Tea Party is much more powerful in Europe than in the US. Read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard to see an example. It's just they don't call it the "Tea Party" in Europe. It doesn't seem to have a name over there, but that's what it is.
Gold Prices Bubbling Away
Well, I normally do not follow the price of gold or other precious metals but an email from a former student of mind has piqued my curiousity. My former student is studying medicine rather than economics but has a consuming interest in economics and markets and forwarded me a newsletter on the price of gold […]
The case for stealth taxation
According to Rosen et al's widely used public finance textbook: “…it is generally agreed that visible taxes are preferable to hidden taxes…." It is, in some ways, a strange assertion. The standard economic analysis of taxation assumes that taxes' superficial aspects – things like who is legally responsible for collecting the tax – are largely […]
The Price Is Too Damn High, Denouement
A follow up to this. It would appear that the answer is likely, in fact, regulatory-based transaction costs (or at least perceived transaction costs). Not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped, though I'd need a rigorous study to have any real confidence in the answer. Anyhow, as a Canadian business person competing with U.S. […]
Recessions are always and everywhere a monetary phenomena
"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" was Milton Friedman's slogan. It was revolutionary (or counter-revolutionary) when he said it in 1970, but it's now very widely accepted. After all, we make central banks responsible for keeping inflation on target. We do not make fiscal authorities responsible for targeting inflation (unless they happen to […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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