Category Frances Woolley
Is plastic surgery a human capital investment?
Tetesaclaque's little video "The Secretary" or "La Secretaire" poses a rarely asked question: is plastic surgery a human capital investment? Human capital is typically defined as any investment in education or training that increases a person's productivity.
The market for textbooks: do economics professors practice what they preach?
Economics textbooks extol the virtues of competition. But the market for textbooks is anything but competitive. A professor typically requires students to buy a specific textbook. Even if that text is available from sellers such as amazon.com, students may not discover which books are required until the first day of classes, by which time it […]
Unpaid work and the census: who cares?
In the 1990s, women's groups around the world lobbied for greater recognition of unpaid work. They argued that governments should document the work that women do, and include its value in national income accounts and GDP measures. In Canada, Carol Lees refused to complete the 1991 Census because the question "when did this person last […]
Adultery and Income Inequality
Why would any woman choose to have a relationship with married man? If all men were equal, being a married man's mistress would never make economic sense: why share with another woman when you can have a man to yourself? But if some men are vastly better off than others, a one-night stand with Tiger […]
Geneology and the census
Historical censuses from around the world are available on-line at sites like http://ancestry.ca or http://www.findmypast.co.uk. A few hours spent looking up old family records made history come alive for me.
Canadian public policy: all-time greatest hits.
I'm a sucker for lists. So here's a list of the most-accessed articles from the journal Canadian Public Policy in the JStor archive in 2009.
Economics, Drugs and Rock ‘n Roll
When obscure bands like the Dirty 30s play a gig, they are often paid a percentage of the bar sales. This time-honoured tradition solves two information problems: 1. The owner of a bar may lack the time or the ability to assess a band's quality. But with a revenue-sharing arrangement, that's not a problem – […]
What modern art and economic theory have in common
Economic theory and modern art are a lot alike. They're abstract. When Gainsborough painted a horse, he tried to represent it as realistically as possible. But Deborah Butterfield's Jerusalem Horse #1 looks at first glance like a tangled piece of rusting metal. Then one sees the neck of the horse, and the head, traced out […]
Golden classics: great composers, consumers’ preferences or economic incentives?
Last night I went to a concert of golden classics – pieces like the Toreador song from Carmen that have the audience humming along. And I started wondering – why, when I go to a classical music concert, do I so rarely hear something written by a living composer? I can think of three explanations.
Is there any point in saving?
A recent report prepared for the Department of Finance by Keith Horner came to a optimistic conclusion about Canadians' savings levels: Overall, it appears that about 69% of Canadian households saved in RPPs and RRSPs at rates sufficient to fully maintain their consumption levels in retirement (100% replacement rate). About 78% of households met a […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Recent Comments