Author Archives: wciecon
The National Household Survey has lost the benefit of the doubt
Everyone knows – and should have known – that the numbers from the National Household Survey (NHS) would be dodgy. Statistics Canada has always claimed that the NHS numbers would be useful for many purposes, and this line has been swallowed by many. After all, Statistics Canada has a deserved reputation for professionalism, and their […]
Paul Krugman, Ricardian Equivalence, and the Pigou effect
If I produce a car, and sell it, and undertake no obligation to service that car (by changing the oil), and undertake no obligation to buy back that car, and if nobody can sue me if that car goes wrong, then that car I have produced and sold is not one of my liabilities. That's […]
The strong monetarist dark force of eventual macroeconomic self-equilibration
There must be some macroeconomic equilibrating force out there we don't know about. A dark force. It's sometimes slow to work, but it does work eventually. And whatever it is, it must make monetarism truer than it theoretically would otherwise be. A monetarist force. And whatever it is, it must be much stronger than a […]
University Debt: The Perils of Being Small
You may recall my recent post on Ontario university financing in which I focused on the university debt levels of Brock, Wilfrid Laurier and Guelph given that they were undergoing program reviews designed to address “sustainability”. Well, I have done a bit of an update by getting information on long-term debt, total revenues and enrolment […]
Oprah Winfrey, victim of racism – or marketing?
Oprah, one of the richest women in the world, was in Zurich, Switzerland, when an assistant at an upscale handbag shop told her the purse she was looking at (worth over $35,000) was “too expensive” for her. [Globe and Mail] Winfrey – and just about every single media outlet in North America – interpreted the incident as […]
Love, paternalism, selfishness – and money.
Smokers smoke. Gamblers gamble. Drinkers drink. Why should anyone else care? Some non-economists believe that economics assumes selfishness. Each person is only concerned about themselves, and their material consumption. Selfishness can be represented formally like this: u=u(x) (1) A person's "utility", their well-being or happiness, is a function, u, of their consumption of goods and […]
“Is the macroeconomy self-equilibrating?” is a stupid question
"At the macroeconomic level, is the market economy self-equilibrating?" I used to think that was the most important and fundamental question in macroeconomics. Now I think it's a stupid question that doesn't make sense. So when I read Paul Krugman saying: "Think of it this way: Friedman was an avid free-market advocate, who insisted that […]
The Department of Finance has changed its accounting rules. Again.
The Department of Finance's Fiscal Monitor has been a useful tool in keeping track of the federal government's spending and revenues is a timely fashion. I've been using 12-month moving sums to account for seasonal patterns in revenues and spending, and they've been useful check to see if federal finances are consistent with budget projection. […]
Redefining “inflation”: Austrians, NGDP targets, and my mother
Some Austrians (I can't remember which ones) define "inflation" as "a growing supply of base money". [Update: Jonathan Finegold gently corrects me.] This used to strike me, as it strikes most economists, as a bit daft. OK, I would think, you can define "inflation" that way if you want, but "rising prices" is what the […]
Is this a bank bailout by the CMHC? Quotas vs tariffs.
I learn from the CBC that the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation has imposed a quota of $350 million per month per individual bank (or other lender) on the amount of mortgage-backed securities it will guarantee. Presumably the CMHC did this because the Federal government wanted to put a cap of $85 billion on the […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments