Category fun
The macroeconomics of Big Wedding cultures
How do you build a macroeconomic model of a "Big Wedding" culture? Do Big Wedding cultures spend too much on consumption and too little on saving and investment? If so, what's cause and what's effect? I don't know the answer. I don't even really need to know the answer. But this question has been stuck […]
Bike banks
Bear with me on this one. I'm trying to get my head straight on money and banking, by thinking weird thoughts. Suppose, just suppose, that (for some unknown reason) the only asset that banks liked owning was bicycles. They refused to own any other sort of asset, except, of course, central bank currency and reserves […]
The Long Hand of Medieval Economic Thought…
In the current Ontario election campaign, both the Ontario Conservatives and the NDP have put in their platforms pledges to remove the HST from home hydro bills and home heating. It is argued that these items are not luxuries and that the HST has made life less affordable for families. The NDP goes a step […]
The MX6 bitch bolt and technical progress
I need a mental health break from macro/money. It's stressing me out too much. Plus, things like the MX6 bitch bolt are just as important in the big scheme of things. On the rear ("right") side of the V6 engine on a Mazda MX6, next to the firewall, is a small metal bracket. It's about […]
A simple Keynesian-monetarist brain-teaser
Mostly for fun. Mostly for economics undergraduates. But I think there may be some serious lessons too. Sometimes I like to really push a model, into an extreme limiting case. To see if I can still get my head around it. To see if my intuition is lining up with what the math is telling […]
Forecasting the Future
I've always been a fan of science fiction and the other day came across an old anthology of Canadian science fiction on my downstairs shelf that contains a copy of a pamphlet written in 1883 forecasting what Canada was supposed to be like in 1983. The actual author is apparently unknown but wrote the pamphlet […]
When are there NO gains from trade?
OK you trade theorists. I've got a question for you. It's the exact opposite question to the one you normally ask. When are there no gains from trade? Biologists need to know.
The Efficient Election Market Hypothesis
I'm not displeased by the election results last night. But. Economists talk about "Market Failure" — cases where markets will not lead to an efficient (Pareto Optimal) allocation of resources, because of: market power; externalities; asymmetric information; adverse selection; moral hazard; etc. Good economists then go on to talk about "Government Failure". Just because the […]
Canada’s Kobyashi Maru Test
In the Star Trek universe, one of the curriculum requirements for Starfleet Officer cadets is the infamous Kobyashi Maru test – the test of ultimate character and command ability.
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 […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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