Category Frances Woolley
Open mic night
Today it's your turn – what are you thinking about? What are you reading? Are there topics you'd like us to write more about? Less about? To get you started – this morning I was reading about Spillonomics – forecasting unlikely events. And I'm trying hard to think about everything except unfolding disasters.
Copyright laws and the evolutionary theory of property rights
Buildings nests helps animals survive. Fighting over nests is costly. The rule "don't take other people's nests" encourages nest building, minimizes blood shed, and is found in many species. The biologist Maynard Smith first proposed this idea in the 1970s. More recently Herb Gintis and other economists have used it to explain the evolution of property […]
Are we hard-wired for capitalism?
When I get back from the Canadian Economics Association meetings this evening, my dog will throw himself on me in a paroxysm of joy. But if, two minutes later, I were to try to take a bone away from him, he would bare his teeth and growl. Animals – including humans – are instinctively possessive. […]
Does internet access promote marriage?
Next week at the Canadian Economics Association meetings I'm discussing a provocative paper by Andriana Bellou on the The Impact of Internet Diffusion on Age at First Marriage. The theory behind the model is straight from the e-harmony ads: "I decided to give eHarmony a try after several frustrating attempts to find someone to love, […]
The Economics of the NHL: Collector’s Edition
It was the Winter of '69. Canadians were still smarting from the refusal of the National Hockey League to grant expansion franchises to Vancouver and Quebec City. Attempts were made to prosecute the NHL under the Combines Act for anticompetitive behaviour. The NHL owners claimed they were motivated by "the love of the game". But […]
Should teaching evaluations be public?
Every economics undergraduate learns that competitive markets are efficient. But efficiency requires information. In a competitive market, a store that sells rotten apples for $2.00/lb will likely go out of business. Yet if people do not have information about the quality of apples they are buying, a store can sell bad produce and make a […]
Visible minorities: diversity in the labour market?
One worthwhile Canadian initiative is the concept of visible minorities. A person is a member of a visible minority if he or she is "non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour." There is a list. The idea of a visible minority is intimately tied to another worthwhile Canadian initiative: employment equity. Not to be confused […]
Are we wasting half our hockey talent?
Malcolm Gladwell, in his best-selling book Outliers writes “Those born in the last quarter of the year might as well give up on hockey…” Why? There is …an iron law of Canadian hockey: in any elite group of hockey players – the very best of the best – 40 percent of the players will have […]
Why is the personal income tax system so complicated?
It wasn't always this way. Recent budgets have seen a flowering of special credits – the employment amount, public transit amount, children's fitness amount, home buyer's amount, the textbook amount, just to name a few. More and more, support for Canadians in need comes through the income tax system. So now your tax return contains […]
What makes charities special?
Tax systems reflect values. Because most people think charity is a good thing, registered charities enjoy tax privileges. Donations to charity generate tax credits – representing about $2.8 billion in forgone federal revenue in 2009. Charities don’t pay corporate income tax, and receive special GST treatment. Any time the income tax act draws a line, […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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