Category Everyday economics
Why is there HST on used furniture?
The harmonized sales tax is a value added tax. At each stage of production, the government collects taxes on the value added at that stage. Suppose, for example, a carpenter buys $10,000 worth of wood, makes it into furniture, and sells the furniture for $15,000. At a 12% tax rate, the carpenter pays $1,200 HST […]
Should economists be licensed?
In the US, as in most other OECD countries, unionization rates have been falling for decades. Yet this decline has been counter-balanced by a rise in professional licensing. This picture, taken from Kleiner and Krueger (ht Thomas Lemieux), says it all:
Why it’s hard to profit from northern asparagus
Life explodes in springtime: green grass, flowers, blossoms. Asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb. Fiddleheads. These seasonal crops all thrive in northern climates. So why is it hard to grow them profitably? There are boring, obvious explanations: labour costs, the high Canadian dollar, and so on. This post explores another reason for asparagus unprofitability. Canadian asparagus is ready […]
The echoes of internment
The internment of Japanese-Canadians during the second World War was one of the less noble points in Canadian history. But this post is not about guilt or shame. Economists are increasingly aware that history matters. A recent survey by the Harvard-based Canadian economist Nathan Nunn describes how decisions made centuries ago – for example, the types of […]
Sellers and buyers
I must have met thousands of people whose job is to sell things. Right now, I can only think of one person I have met whose job is to buy things. Why that massive asymmetry? Three possible explanations, off the top of my head:
Riding the Loser Cruiser
People will use public transit if it's the lowest cost way of getting from point A to point B. Costs have three components. The first is money costs – the cost of gas or a bus fare or a train ticket. The second is time costs – the opportunity cost of time spent driving or […]
Musings on Good Friday
Today is Good Friday, the end of Lent, the Christian period of fasting or sacrifice. In Europe, it was once traditional to fast, or give up eating animal products, for the duration of Lent. That traditional sacrifice is the source of some well-known Easter rituals. We're celebrating the end of Lent today with hot cross […]
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.
Understanding Victim Fine Surcharges
In Canada, people who break the law pay a “victim fine surcharge.” For federal offences, the surcharge is 15 percent of any fine imposed. For criminals who are not fined, a set surcharge of $50 or $100 is imposed, depending upon the severity of the crime. The funds raised through these fines stay in the […]
Is it moral to vote?
This question should perhaps better be left to Robin Hanson, who understands Aumann's agreement theorem better than me. (Maybe he's already addressed it, but a quick search of his blog didn't find it.) I am almost certainly muddled somewhere. But here goes anyway. Suppose there's an election between two parties. Or a vote between two […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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