Author Archives: wciecon
Accounting Identities and the Implicit Theory of Inertia
Animals can be divided into Carnivores and Non-Carnivores: A = C + NC. Therefore, if we add some wolves to an island of sheep, the number of animals on that island will increase. It's easy to see why that argument might not be right. Wolves kill sheep. But if you didn't know that fact about […]
Fiat Bling
I visited a country where people wore paper money as jewelry. Richer people wore larger denomination notes, to signal how wealthy they were, and poorer people wore smaller denomination notes. Only the very poorest wore none at all. Then I learned the paper money wasn't used as money. They only produced one homogeneous good called […]
The Hospitalization Life Cycle
The Canadian Institute for Health Information has just released a report on Hospital Stays in Canada which provides a plethora of interesting tables on hospital stays in Canada at a national and provincial level. Both the age-standardized hospitalization rate (per 100,000 population) and the age standardized average length of stay (in days) in Canada have […]
About that EKOS poll
A recent EKOS poll found "the incidence of [Canadians] thinking there are too many visible minorities is up significantly and no longer trails opposition to general immigration (as it has historically)." Here is a picture that shows the question EKOS asked, and the long-term trend in Canadians' responses to this question (click on the picture […]
Robinson Crusoe and the Carbon Tax Rebate
Suppose I impose a carbon tax on Robinson Crusoe. But I give him a rebate exactly equal to the tax he pays. That tax plus rebate will have no effect on Robinson Crusoe's behaviour. He knows that if he cuts carbon by 1kg, and pays $1 less tax, his rebate also falls by $1, so […]
Guest Post: Comparing Technological Change in the Health and Taxi Industries
Well, here is a guest post forwarded to me by Ruolz Ariste – a colleague whom I originally met during my annual interactions with the CIHI and with whom I have co-authored. Ruolz Ariste is currently pursuing a PhD in Industrial Relations in a program run by run jointly by Université Laval and Université du […]
Interest Rates and Money Growth; Two Types of Central Bank
I want to imagine two different types of central bank. The first type of central bank cuts nominal interest rates to increase money growth. The second type of central bank raises nominal interest rates to increase money growth. In both cases the increase in money growth causes Aggregate Demand to start growing, and eventually causes […]
Do Chinese Canadians struggle in the labour market?
Update: A revised version of the paper discussed in this blog, with results close to those obtained using the PUMF, is available here. Thanks to Feng Hou for taking my concerns seriously and responding to them promptly.
Breaking up the quarter million dollar club
Ontario eliminated mandatory retirement in 2006. Six years later, professors started to enter the quarter million dollar dollar club. This exclusive group is comprised of university professors aged 71 or older who, due to the curious interaction of federal pension legislation and academic collective agreements, are able to collect a full pension and a full […]
Canada’s Gross Domestic Income and trading gains: An update and estimates for the provinces
This builds off an earlier post about the terms of trade, trading gains, and Gross Domestic Income and it extends the analysis to the provincial level. It's probably a good idea to take a look at it before continuing on.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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