Author Archives: wciecon
The Bank of Canada and the Fed: rules vs. discretion
I just can't get interested in the Bank of Canada right now. I can only think about the Fed. The Bank of Canada is just too boring. Which it should be.
On the benefits of full-day kindergarten
This post was written by Kevin Milligan of the Department of Economics at the University of British Columbia. There was a flurry of media coverage earlier this week on the full day kindergarten programs that are being rolled out in BC, Ontario, and PEI. I am here to expand a bit on some of the […]
Do women promote women?
It's tenure and promotion time. In universities across the country, assistant professors are preparing their files, bundling together every article they have ever published. The files are sent out to external reviewers, experts in the candidate's field, whose carefully worded letters can make or break young academics' careers. Every year I am asked to do […]
The Globe and Mail Confirms Two Recent Points of Discussion
Been away for the past week or so fighting the flu. Hoping to come back to regular blogging soon. In the meantime, two interesting stories from the Globe: Government study reveals significant errors in voluntary census In another example from the report, the real 2006 long-form census found that visible minorities as a share of […]
Blogging as crack
Compared to other forms of writing, especially academic writing, blogging is like crack. (Not that I would know, about crack I mean). It is cheap and easy; the hits come very quickly (once Stephen had invested all the years of hard work to get this blog going for the rest of us free-loaders); the hits […]
The house price fairy
The house price fairy visited me last night. She offered me three choices: she would instantly double all house prices; she would instantly halve all house prices; or she would leave all house prices the same. "You stupid fairy!" I replied. "Don't you know i already own this house, and I have no plans to […]
On the sources of Canada’s recession and recovery
The good news from the latest National Accounts release is that real GDP has recovered its pre-recession peak. In this post, I'm going to review how the Canadian fell into recession, and how it recovered.
Breakfast at Richard’s
This post was written by Simon van Norden of HEC-Montréal. A few weeks ago I blogged about the views of Richard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and self-described "inflation hawk." Mr. Fisher is an important man; among other things he was a voting member of the FOMC in 2008 and will […]
Time-shifting planned demand vs. permanently increasing actual demand
Most policies aimed at increasing demand merely time-shift planned demand. Does that mean they don't really work? Does it mean we get recovery now at the expense of an even bigger recession later? Do we just have to cross our fingers and hope that something else eventually comes along to increase demand in future? A […]
“It’s like having a private education within the public school system”
The demand for French immersion education in Vancouver so far outstrips the supply that the school board allocates places by lottery. But why? Is it because French is a useful employment skill? Because learning to speak French makes you a better person? Or is it because parents know intuitively what economists can show econometrically: peer […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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