Category International
Employment growth in Texas
This post was written by Simon van Norden of HEC-Montréal. In normal times, people could care less about employment growth in Texas. But times are strange enough that our neighbours to the south are suddenly making an issue of it. (It’s even in the New York Times! (1) (2))
Dealing with the Current Financial Crisis
Well, I'm certainly not a macroeconomist and I have even less expertise when it comes to the world of money and banking and international finance. Yet, given the current situation in financial markets and the world economy, I cannot help but wonder if the problem is also institutional. So, here it goes.
US AAA: bleg and random thoughts
First the Bleg: since I'm so useless at questions like this, what is Canada's own history of bond ratings? Have Canada's federal bonds been upgraded or downgraded often in the past? What were the circumstances? Did it make much difference to anything? (Or any other countries, other than Canada and the US, for that matter, […]
Health Outcomes & Health Financing: An Example
I finally got around to looking at the OECD Health Data release for 2011 and as is my habit, I spend some time looking at the overview reports and charts as well as playing around with some of the data. The first chart provided by the OECD that I want to draw your attention to […]
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.
Eurozone fallout preparations?
1. If/when the Eurozone collapses, how will that affect countries in the rest of the world, like Canada? 2. What, if anything, can those countries do about it?
Foreign ownership and foreign control
Friday's release of Canada's international investment position for 2011Q1 shows that Canada is a net debtor nation, as it has been for its entire history – with the notable exception of a fleeting moment that was subsequently revised away. But we're not net debtors in all asset classes: Canadian direct holding of assets abroad are […]
A Strong Dollar?
American economic policy debate has recently taken turns familiar to Canadians – health care sustainability, debts and deficits, and most recently, the value of the dollar.
Cities, Capital Cities and Economic Performance
It is the conventional wisdom that urban centers with their concentrations of human and physical capital and their dense social networks are engines of growth. One exception to this is can be the case where a dominant urban center by virtue of its institutional monopoly on a country or region’s economic life is able to […]
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 […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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