Category Stephen Gordon
Statistics Canada’s Attention Deficit Disorder
This happens all the time: With the release of November 2013 data, Statistics Canada converted the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) and the Raw Materials Price Index (RMPI) series to 2010=100, with 2010 as the base year. These indexes have also been updated using a weighting pattern based on the 2010 production values of Canadian manufacturers. At the same time, the classification […]
What happened to the distribution of real earnings during the recession?
[Note: I noticed an error in some of the graphs a few minutes after publishing the original post.] [Update: Everyone should read Kevin Milligan's take using the SLID data. I'll get back to this in another point soon.] I noted on Econowatch at Maclean's a few weeks ago that average and median real earnings increased […]
How much new revenue would be generated by an increase in federal corporate taxes?
I've decided to revisit this post from last year. The background context is the Conservative government's 'starve the beast' agenda – documented by me here and here, by Livio here and by Paul Wells in his excellent new book. The Conservatives have made two significant tax cuts during their time in office. The GST rate was […]
The hollowing-out of the middle class: It’s a guy thing
I've been having a hard time getting my head around the 'hollowing out of the middle class' theme that were seeing so much of. What, exactly, does that mean? And is it actually happening? In a Maclean's post a couple of months ago, I tried looking at it in terms of the proportion of the […]
Contrasting trends in Canadian and US median incomes
This is a graph of real Canadian median family incomes: What do you think the relevant trend is for current policy?
Real wages and old-time macroeconomics
I posted this graph at Maclean's earlier today: The hook of the piece was that Canadian real wages had increased in Canada, and I made the point that this increase was largely due to the Bank of Canada's undershooting its inflation target. I went to the FRED site and put together a similar graph, using […]
What is the link between unionisation and inequality?
I've looked at graphs like this many times over the past few years: One of the things that I notice in that chart is that countries that are reputed to have strong union movements have market inequality outcomes that don't appear to be all that much better than those with weaker union movements. So this […]
The National Household Survey has lost the benefit of the doubt
Everyone knows – and should have known – that the numbers from the National Household Survey (NHS) would be dodgy. Statistics Canada has always claimed that the NHS numbers would be useful for many purposes, and this line has been swallowed by many. After all, Statistics Canada has a deserved reputation for professionalism, and their […]
The Department of Finance has changed its accounting rules. Again.
The Department of Finance's Fiscal Monitor has been a useful tool in keeping track of the federal government's spending and revenues is a timely fashion. I've been using 12-month moving sums to account for seasonal patterns in revenues and spending, and they've been useful check to see if federal finances are consistent with budget projection. […]
What is the link between labour’s share of income, financialisation, and income concentration?
Bruce Bartlett draws attention to three developments in the US economy over the past 30 years or so: The declining share of labour in national income in the US The growing 'financialisation' of the US economy The concentration of income at the top of the US income distribution.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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