Author Archives: wciecon
Flea Market Economics
At a flea market in Perth, Ontario (Slogan: "We buy junk and sell antiques"), I spotted a pair of used phones. The two are identical in all respects except colour and price. Why should a blue phone have an asking price $70 higher than a yellow phone? It's a simple matter of supply and demand.
What Steve Keen is maybe trying to say
Or maybe not. But either way I'm going to say it. There's a fine line somewhere between: just fixing obvious typos in what someone actually said; and totally changing what they actually said. Or maybe there is no line, and it's just a continuous slope. Anyway, I'm going to cross that fine line here, and […]
University Debt II: A Longer-Term Perspective
My recent post on university debt presented data on total enrollment, total long-term debt and the debt to revenue ratio for 20 Ontario universities in 2012. I recently updated the numbers and was able to extend the data backwards to 2000 for many but not all of the same universities. For those of you who […]
Is money exogenous or endogenous?
Most macroeconomists will (correctly) see this as a boring post (though with maybe a small bite in the last paragraph?). But some might find it controversial. I'm just trying to state the usual view clearly. Is the weather exogenous or endogenous? Meteorologists try to explain/predict the weather, so by definition the weather will be endogenous […]
Canadian Macro Performance: Better than the G-7 but…
We are of course quite used to repeated claims that Canada has outperformed all other G-7 countries in job creation and GDP growth during the recovery from the 2009 recession. Our better fiscal performance is also trotted out especially with respect to the net debt to GDP ratio. However, if instead of the G-7, we […]
The Legend of the Auto Quota: Separating fact from fiction
For people who purport to be skeptical of normative analysis, economists are awfully fond of morality tales. One of our favourites is The Legend of the Auto Quota. Once upon a time, the US imposed a quota on imports of Japanese automobiles. Japanese automakers responded by upgrading; packing every car they sold full of features. […]
New Keynesians really need the Pigou effect
Because otherwise their models won't work. And yet the canonical versions of their models, which don't even have money, cannot have a Pigou effect. And so New Keynesians are guilty of the Old Keynesian accusation of "just assuming full employment". Here's why: In Old Keynesian models, if Aggregate Demand is too low, a cut in […]
Wealth, Religion and Inequality
In nineteenth century Canada, religion was a very important institutional and social force and via its social networks affected employment opportunities and ultimately income. Via both direct and indirect effects, religious affiliation invariably affected asset accumulation and wealth and by extension must also have affected wealth inequality. Indeed, when it comes to examining the wealth […]
David Laidler goes meta on “What would Milton have said?”
I tried to persuade David Laidler to join us in the econoblogosphere, especially given recent arguments about Milton Friedman. I have not yet succeeded, but David did say I could use these two paragraphs from his email: "However – re. the "what Milton would have said" debate – When I was just getting started in […]
Bob Murphy, George Orwell, me, and the meaning of inflation
I think (not 100% sure) that Bob Murphy accuses me (and Scott Sumner) of doing something sort of Orwellian. Dunno, but I don't think I am. (And BTW, I don't think Austrians are necessarily doing anything Orwellian with their way(s) of using the word "inflation", though maybe some of them are being a bit overly […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments