Category Frances Woolley
No, your kids don’t want your stuff
Dining room sets that cost thousands of dollars new can be picked up for a few hundred dollars (or less) on Kijiji or Craigslist. Here’s a quote from typical ad: “Solid wood in Excellent condition. Rarely used. I am moving to a smaller house and it needs to go. Price is negotiable.” It’s part of […]
From tax policy to tax politics.
Notes prepared for a Session in Honour of Robin Boadway II: Emerging Issues in Tax and Transfer Policy, held at the Canadian Economics Association meetings in Toronto, June 1, 2024. The fundamental principles of optimal tax analysis have not changed greatly over the past 50 years. The constraints faced by tax policy makers have. The […]
Good Chart Checklist
Note: this was prepared for my ECON 3403 students, and is a list of all of the mistakes I commonly see in student charts. Please add your suggestions for things to add to this list in the comments – or steal, modify, and use for your own purposes! Good Chart Check List: Is my chart […]
Do the self-employed opt out of the Canada Pension Plan?
In 2017, anyone with earnings was required to pay $4.95 in Canada Pension Plan contributions for every $100 of earnings (up to a maximum earnings threshold of $51,800 – rates here). For the employed, their $4.95 CPP/QPP contribution was matched by an equal contribution by their employer. However self-employed individuals are required to pay the […]
Presidents: do you get what you pay for?
In 1915, Woodrow Wilson earned $75,000 per year, or $1.9 million in 2018 dollars, for serving as President of the United States. The current incumbent of that office receives only a fraction of that amount: $400,000 annually. Congress has increased the presidential salary three times in the past 100 years: raising it to $100,000 in […]
Can the Great Barrington proposal save the economy?
The Great Barrington Declaration argues against universal lock-downs: Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal. Simple hygiene measures, such as hand washing and staying home when sick should be practiced by everyone to reduce the herd immunity threshold. Schools and universities should be open for in-person teaching. Extracurricular […]
Pain, brioche, and the language of taxation
Ireland's Supreme Court recently ruled that the buns Subway uses in its sandwiches contain too much sugar to be considered "bread", and are thus subject to Value Added Tax (VAT). The decision lead to headlines and discussion along the lines of "Irish High Court Rules Subway’s Sandwich Bread Is Not Legally Bread" or "Ireland declares […]
Inequality and competition in a digital economy: a case study
Pokémon Go is an economy in miniature. There is exchange: players trade Pokémons and swap gifts. There is scarcity: the balls required to catch Pokémons are scarce, as is Pokémon storage capacity and other items in the game. There is production: through various activities, such as walking a Pokémon egg, or leaving a Pokémon in […]
Men, women, and the end of mandatory retirement
Back in 2014, I wrote a blog post on the end of mandatory retirement for university professors. I quoted a number of men who argued that having a standard retirement age hurts women. Here's an extract from that original post: Thomas Klassen and David Macgregor, writing in the CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers) Bulletin, challenged […]
Can you be confident about an economy you can’t see?
Canada's economy may be on life support, but it is still hanging on. Even on streets that seem empty and shuttered, there are a few businesses getting by, or even thriving. The bookstore on Beechwood Avenue looks closed, but every so often a customer pops by to pick up an order from the bookrack hidden […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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