Author Archives: wciecon
What monetary policy cannot do, and so cannot be blamed for having done
We have learned, after long and painful lessons, that there are some good things we wish that monetary policy could do that monetary policy in fact cannot do. But we don't seem to have learned the corollary to that lesson: by exactly the same argument, there are also some bad things that monetary policy gets […]
Because it’s not summer if you don’t go swimming in Lake Couchiching
Blogging will be light-to-non-existent until after July 16.
Greenspan and his critics, again — with a Canadian twist
His critics blame Alan Greenspan for setting interest rates too low, which caused the house-price bubble, which then burst and caused the financial crisis. As I argued back in February, the critics are typically confused between interest rates that are low, and interest rates that are low relative to the natural rate. The topic is […]
The Alberta Premier’s Council of Economic Strategy has no Alberta economists
U of Calgary's Aidan Hollis delivers the snark: Twelve members, of whom one is an economist. Presumably the idea is that anyone is an expert in economics. Either that, or economists have not much to add. No academics from Alberta. Two Oxford professors, one an expert in the ethics of post-conflict reconstruction, and another an immunologist. […]
US dollar rises on bad employment news. And on good employment news.
I can never get enough of these sorts of articles: Loonie weakens as jobless data spooks investors: Canada's currency weakened after a U.S. government report showed employers cut more jobs in June than economists forecast, diminishing prospects for the country's economic recovery. "A worse number is going to be bad for risk appetite," said Shaun […]
Stimulus? What stimulus?
Over here, I expressed confusion at Mark Carney's reported remarks to the effect that 'whatever good news existed was caused artificially by massive government and central bank stimulus': What government stimulus? The 12-month moving average of federal government program expenditures has been falling since December. (The deficit is due to declining tax revenues.) It occurs […]
Monetary stability vs financial stability
I want to compare and contrast the pursuit of monetary stability with the pursuit of financial stability. I am talking mainly about Canada, though much of what I say applies to other countries as well.
It is Canada’s sad fate to have a comparative advantage in really bad economics journalism
Murray Teitel embarrasses us in front of the English. And we hadn't even begun to expunge our collective guilt for Naomi Klein. Please please please go out and buy a copy of Filthy Lucre. Buy several; give them to your friends. Or else I may have to start stitching US flags on my luggage when […]
The housing market: the oversold story of the Canadian recession
Here is what is hopefully one of the last of a once-robust breed – The Apocalyptic Canadian Housing Market Story: Judging by the latest real estate data, the Canadian housing market could scarcely be better. Average home prices are up more than 16 per cent this year, and in May they hit an all-time monthly […]
Parsing Mark Carney at third remove
There's much in this CP story that I don't understand. The thrust seems to be that Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney is making it known that he is more pessimistic about the state of the Canadian economy. It's hard to know what to make of it all. Why is Bank of Canada's Carney raining […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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