Author Archives: wciecon
Flawed discounting of the Stern report
Max Wilkinson has a go in the Financial Times, complete with an over-the-top headline: Stern’s report is based on flawed figures. The issue is Stern’s choice of using a discount rate of 2-3% a year to discount the future costs of global warming: [T]he actual figure used by Sir Nicholas seems to have been between […]
A good decision on income trusts
The federal Conservatives’ decision to eliminate income trusts has generated a certain amount of fuss (even The Economist noticed), especially in the form of sharply reduced share prices for companies that had structured themselves to take advantage of the tax breaks they provided. Much of the media coverage about the pros and cons of income […]
The NDP and the minimum wage
The Ontario NDP has introduced a private member’s bill to increase the Ontario minimum wage from $7.75/hr to $10.00/hr, and its cousins in Ottawa have proposed a $10/hr minimum wage for workers under federal jurisdiction. The question is: why? We know that the link between those who earn the minimum wage and those who are […]
Oil sands graph of the day
Courtesy of the Oil Drum: Between now and 2020, production from the oil sands is likely to increase by about 2 million barrels per day – almost the equivalent of the arrival of another Venezuela on the world market. I’ve been trying to get a handle on the effects that the development of the tar […]
Collateral damage from the yuan peg
According to the Financial Times, US papers are looking to China for newsprint: The newsprint that will roll over the presses of the Orlando Sentinel some time next month may not look any different to the paper’s readers. But it will have endured a fairly tortuous journey – from a port in China, across the […]
My financial career
When I go into a bank I get rattled. The clerks rattle me; the wickets rattle me; the sight of the money rattles me; everything rattles me. The moment I cross the threshold of a bank and attempt to transact business there, I become an irresponsible idiot. I knew this beforehand, but my salary had […]
The NHL’s real problem: bad cost-benefit analyses
It turns out that Don Cherry was right all along – too many Europeans play in the NHL: IIHF study backs up Cherry’s beliefs: The IIHF study found that the majority of Europeans drafted by National Hockey League clubs between 2000 and 2006 did not make an impact either at the professional or minor-pro level. […]
Canada’s shrinking stock market
The Financial Times reports on a series of high-profile foreign takeovers of Canadian companies: This is getting serious: on current trends Céline Dion might be the only Canadian icon left. Many others are being picked off by foreigners. This year’s disappeared include Canada’s oldest corporation, the Hudson’s Bay Company; its two biggest nickel miners, Inco […]
Dealing with a terms of trade shock
The most important graph from the Bank of Canada’s Monetary Policy Report (pdf): The shift in the terms of trade plays a leading role in the story of the the Canadian macroeconomy over the past five years. Deputy Governor Pierre Duguay’s speech last August puts it this way: "The substantial rise in real commodity prices […]
A new US policy for dealing with population growth?
US teacher exiled to Canada after sexual abuse conviction Now, we in Canada make it a point to not mimic American traditions whenever possible. For example, we don’t have a Statue of Liberty. But if we did, I’m pretty sure that it wouldn’t read "Give us your poor, your tired, your convicted sex offenders…" And […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments