Category Canadian economy
People of Plenty
American historian David Potter’s book People of Plenty argued that resource abundance shaped the American attitude towards possibility and opportunity. Abundant resources set the stage for wealth accumulation and created a society that believes that everyone can become rich through their own work and effort and that initiative and opportunity are the key to social […]
The Liberal dilemma: centrist or centralist?
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Canada's Liberal party as centrist. If this is true, then their collapse can be explained by a splintering of the electorate, so fewer Canadians identify with the centre, or by an increase in political competition. Now other parties, such as the Greens, compete for the centrist vote. While both these stories […]
Is Toronto Leading Canada’s Economic Recovery?
Statistics Canada has just released the most recent building permit numbers and they show that municipalities issued building permits worth $6.8 billion in March 2011, a 17.2% increase from February and a level not seen since June 2007. Moreover, the gain was mostly the result of advances in the residential and non-residential sectors in Ontario.
A Short Assessment of Federal Election 2011 Results
With the election over and a Conservative majority government, one can expect to see a continuation of current federal economic policy with respect to lower corporate taxes, targeted spending programs, as well as a more explicit articulation and implementation of a philosophy of smaller government.
Intelligent Government in Canada — Ian Stewart Festschrift
I have 300+ exam papers to grade, and simply don't have time to do a proper post on this. (I don't really have the breadth of knowledge required either). Anyone interested in public policy in Canada, from a mostly economic perspective, would have benefited greatly from attending the conference (organised by the Centre for the […]
Garth Turner bleg
There's a job needs doing, but I'm not the best person to do it. Because I was never that good at variances and covariances and CAPM and stuff. One of you finance guys would be much better.
Ranking Prime Ministers: Are Tory Times Really Tough Times?
There is an old adage in Canadian political lore that “Tory times are tough times” and that Liberal governments have generally seen more prosperous times. Given that every Prime Minister since Confederation has been either a Liberal or a Conservative, it should be a relatively simple matter to find indicators rank the economic performance of […]
The Canadian Taylor Curve — and the direction of causality
This is from my Carleton colleague Hashmat Khan: There is a strong negative relationship between investment and unemployment in Canada. The data on private business fixed investment from the past 35 years confirm it. The measure of investment is non-residential structures + residential structures + machinery & equipment. The correlation between investment (relative to GDP) […]
Ontario’s Public Finances: A Fiscal Primer
With Ontario set to deliver its own budget on Tuesday March 29th, it is useful to provide a perspective on the province's finances given that it is Canada’s most populous province and largest provincial economy. Ontario faces some tough fiscal decision making over the next few years given a set of deteriorating public finances and […]
Is Ontario in Decline?
With a battered manufacturing sector, a large public sector deficit, a drop in per capita GDP relative to other provinces and becoming a recipient of equalization, Ontario has definitely seen better days. The question is whether this is represents a long-term trend towards economic decline for Ontario or is it simply a short-term aberration?
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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