Author Archives: wciecon
Time Spent on the Long Form Census
This is a fairly obvious point, but I don't recall seeing it discussed anywhere. When we examine the costs of a public policy, we not only need to consider the financial costs, but other opportunity costs as well. Take, for instance, the costs of an election. We not only need to consider the financial costs […]
Neo-classical economics is dead. Sort of.
Ten years ago, David Colander wrote an obituary describing "the death of neo-classical economics." Sort of. Strictly speaking, he was calling for economist-assisted terminasia:
Liquidity and used cars; liquidity as the slope of the round-trip curve
Conclusion: liquidity should not be measured by the cost of a round-trip from money into the asset and back to money. Instead, liquidity should be measured by the slope of the curve relating the cost of a round-trip against the time taken to make that round-trip. Liquidity has puzzled me for a long time. It's […]
Double-dip risks: Update
This post was written by Simon van Norden of HEC-Montréal. About a month ago I mentioned my scepticism about the high odds that some forecasters were assigning to the risks of a “double-dip” recession in the US. I summed up that post this way:
The Liberal Party and Neoclassical Economics
A quote from a recent Liberal Party report on the oil sands Yet oil sands development is accelerating. It is as though the oil sands have been, and are being, developed within the confines of a neo-classical political and economic mindset that ignores externalities – in this case, the cost of economic development on the […]
Is plastic surgery a human capital investment?
Tetesaclaque's little video "The Secretary" or "La Secretaire" poses a rarely asked question: is plastic surgery a human capital investment? Human capital is typically defined as any investment in education or training that increases a person's productivity.
The market for textbooks: do economics professors practice what they preach?
Economics textbooks extol the virtues of competition. But the market for textbooks is anything but competitive. A professor typically requires students to buy a specific textbook. Even if that text is available from sellers such as amazon.com, students may not discover which books are required until the first day of classes, by which time it […]
The census issue won’t go away. Ever.
The government modified its census position yesterday. Unfortunately for the cause of responsible government, these changes don't alter the situation much – but they do illustrate the vapidity of the government's stance.
Unpaid work and the census: who cares?
In the 1990s, women's groups around the world lobbied for greater recognition of unpaid work. They argued that governments should document the work that women do, and include its value in national income accounts and GDP measures. In Canada, Carol Lees refused to complete the 1991 Census because the question "when did this person last […]
Should the OLG get into the pot and prostitution rackets?
From today’s Toronto Sun on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG): Ontario’s hoping to hit the jackpot with online gambling. After years of dwindling attendance at its traditional casinos, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) is moving into Internet gambling… Why is the government considering doing this? The article gives a few reasons:
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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