Author Archives: wciecon
“But the pension fund was just sitting there”
The federal government’s economic update was released the other day, complete with the eye-catching proposal to be "debt-free" by 2021. I don’t know what’s worse: that the Conservatives expected it to be swallowed, or the fact that some journalists did. It turns out that the measure of debt they’re talking about is "net debt", which […]
The Bank of Canada says “It ain’t broke, so we’re not fixin’ it”
To the surprise of very few observers, the Bank of Canada is sticking to the policy that got it to its (quite enviable) current situation: Joint Statement of the Government of Canada and the Bank of Canada on the Renewal of the Inflation-Control Target The primary objective of Canada’s monetary policy is to enhance the […]
Income-splitting: An expensive way to solve a small problem, and to make a bigger problem worse
The Conservatives are floating the idea of income-splitting, and Andrew Coyne – who has apparently read Jean-Yves Duclos’ Innis Lecture that I referred to here – approves on the basis of fairness: For once, the crass appeal to the base is also the perfect means of broadening the base; the cynical vote-buying thing is also […]
Ban the penny. And the nickel, while we’re at it
There’s a debate at the WSJ online about the pros and cons to keeping the penny. My view is that we should toss the penny and the nickel altogether. The reason is simple: today’s dime has the buying power of a penny circa 1946 in both Canada and the US. I defy you to go […]
“All economic news is bad”
Andrew Coyne reminds us of Easterbrook’s Law: Easterbrook’s Law [is] named for the American journalist Gregg Easterbook, who first conclusively proved that all economic news is bad: all news means change, and all change, no matter how broadly beneficial, makes some people worse off — who are invariably the focus of media attention. The Toronto […]
“To you from falling hands we throw / The torch”
I’m generally cynical about petitions, and doubly so for internet-based ones, but this one deserves all the support we can muster: "We the undersigned feel enormous gratitude for the sacrifice made by all the Canadian Armed Forces through the ages in defence of this country and its values; acknowledge the very special nature of the […]
How to borrow money
The process is quite easy, provided you borrow enough. Have you ever, dear readers, had occasion to borrow money? Have you ever borrowed ten dollars under a rigorous promise of your word of honor as a Christian to pay it back on your next salary day? Have you ever borrowed as much as a million […]
How much damage can the Democrats do to free trade?
For some reason that I don’t fully understand, the last few days have seen any number of commentators opining about the anti-free-trade leanings of many Democrats. Jacob Weisberg’s column in today’s FT is representative: Free trade is the real election casualty: As a result of this year’s election, it now seems unlikely that the new […]
When the minimum wage bites
The ‘old minimum wage research’ – summarised here – found that the effect of an increase in the minimum wage on employment was significant. The ‘new minimum wage research’ – à la Card and Krueger – found that the effect was not significant. When the idea of increasing the Quebec minimum wage to 10$/hr was […]
Why the common language of North America is not French
When Samuel de Champlain in 1603 sailed up the St. Lawrence River and agreed to support the Algonquian Indians at Tadoussac against the aggression of the Iroquois, he could not foresee that the petty strife between those two apparently insignificantly hordes of ‘savages’ would one day decide the fate of New France and of the […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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