Category Livio Di Matteo
Earnings in the “Good Old Days”
The last two times I’ve taught my quantitative economic history course, I have assigned a micro-data collection project based on the 1901 Census of Canada. All in all, this data collection was a good experience for the students given they got some direct experience collecting primary data, coding it and then analyzing it. Moreover, I […]
Federal Transfers, Equalization and Ontario’s Cries for Reform
Transfers and equalization often flare up in Canadian policy discussions with the cry that there is a need for reform. A recent Cohn column in the Toronto Star on Ontario’s economic stall concluded “Outdated equalization and transfer payments cry out for reform, but will likely continue to bleed Ontario’s taxpayers of about $12 billion a […]
Canadian Housing Markets: Bubbles if Necessary but Not Necessarily a Bubble
The debate over whether or not Canada’s housing market is a bubble that is going to crash heated up again this month. Earlier this month, the Financial Times warned that the Canadian housing market was “perched precariously at its peak”. Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said this week that Canada’s housing market was not […]
The Economics of Rob Ford
The dramatic municipal opera currently underway in Toronto over embattled Mayor Rob Ford is fascinating for those of us who live in small hinterland “non-world class cities” that are supposedly devoid of the sophisticated political leadership enjoyed by cities like Toronto. The enduring popularity and populism of Rob Ford in Toronto despite his outrageous behavior […]
Minimum Wages as Macroeconomic Stimulus?
The minimum wage debate has heated up in Ontario given the Ontario Ministry of Labor’s Minimum Wage Advisory Panel is travelling the province looking for input on how to adjust the minimum wage in the province and sparking debate as to whether the minimum wage should be raised from the current general minimum of $10.25 […]
The Incredible Shrinking Federal Government
The Federal government will be releasing their fall economic update today and so this is as good a time as any to review Canadian federal government finances. Contrary to my earlier expectations, I guess the Federal government may indeed be about to balance its budget by 2015/16 judging by early press reports regarding today’s Federal […]
Why Ontario Will Not Be Balancing the Budget Anytime Soon
Ontario released its fall economic statement this week and the government insists that it will be balancing the budget by 2017-18. From an actual deficit of 9.2 billion dollars for 2012-13, it is anticipated that the deficit will be 11.7 billion dollars in 2013-14 and will go down to 3.5 billion dollars by 2016-17. Yet, […]
Migration and Population Size
There was a recent piece in the New York Times on Italy’s economic situation and how its high unemployment rate and stagnant economy appears to have led to a return of Italian emigration. This story struck a personal chord given my own parents came to Canada during the post World War Two wave of immigration. […]
The Health Care Cost Curve: Bending if Necessary but not Necessarily Bending?
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has put out their 2013 National Health Expenditure Report and the big story seems to be that the numbers show that public sector health care costs in Canada are declining. Real per capita public sector health care spending (in 1997 dollars and I used the Health Care Implicit […]
Gross Saving: A Comparison
I’m teaching public finance this term and just finished a discussion of the economic effects of income taxation on saving using a simple two period model of inter-temporal consumption. I rounded out the discussion with a comparison of personal savings rates between Canada and the United States and how their savings rates have converged since […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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