Category Stephen Gordon
The Canadian fiscal union: lessons for the eurozone?
Paul Krugman noted a few days ago that [A]s far as underlying economic inequalities are concerned, the EZ is no worse than the US. The difference, mainly, is that we think of ourselves as a nation, and blithely accept fiscal measures that routinely transfer large sums to the poorer states S.C. at The Economist's Free […]
“The Invisible Hand” on CBC radio
CBC radio is running a new program this summer on economics; it's called "The Invisible Hand". The first episode is scheduled to be broadcast Wednesday morning (this Wednesday – June 27) at 9:30 am and will be re-broadcast the following Saturday morning at 11:00 am. (Half an hour later in Newfoundland, of course.) I am […]
Who benefits from the oil sands? Who benefits from saying that only Alberta does?
This didn't pass my sniff test: The economic benefits of oil sands development, while considerable, are unevenly distributed across the country, making interprovincial tensions understandable. While provinces other than Alberta are projected to benefit, modelling by the Canadian Energy Research Institute projects that 94 per cent of the GDP impact of oil sands development will […]
Two ‘what ifs’ about Canadian macroeconomic policy during the recession
There's a lot for econobloggers in the US and Europe to get exercised about. They are facing serious problems, and their policy makers have demonstrated an alarming inability to deal with them. It's harder for Canadian econobloggers – okay, for this particular econoblogger – to put together arguments documenting how Canadian policy makers got things […]
Manufacturing exports vs resource exports
The misguided notion that the shift from manufactured exports to resource exports is necessarily a bad thing has taken ferocious hold on many politicians and on much of the punditry. So I'm recycling something I wrote before to explain why it's wrong.
“Does Canada have Dutch disease?” is a question without a meaningful answer
The debate about whether or not Canada has "Dutch disease" can never get very far, because there is in fact no clear notion what it is. As far as I'm concerned, the term has by now been stripped of meaning: people are using the definition that is most convenient for their purposes. So in this […]
The federal deficit is shrinking quickly
During the recession and recovery, I got into the habit of writing graph-laden posts every time there was an important data release. I've gotten out of that habit, but I still keep track. One of the things I track is the federal Department of Finance's Fiscal Monitor, which is a brief monthly summary of federal […]
A preliminary estimate for Canadian 2012Q1 GDP growth
The February GDP number came out yesterday, so it's time for my quarterly exercise in trying to come up with a preliminary estimate for quarterly GDP growth a month before Statistics Canada makes its first announcement. As regular readers will no doubt be weary of being reminded, the estimate is based on the GDP numbers […]
Compensating differentials, field of study and the Quebec student strike
Only something like 35% of Quebec students are on strike*, and in a column in today's La Presse, Yves Boivert notes that those on strike are overwhelmingly from the arts and social sciences faculties; those in natural sciences, engineering, medicine, etc have all stayed in class and their session is ending normally. His argument is […]
Taxing the rich: “Part of this complete breakfast”
The 'starve the beast' strategy works like this: Cut taxes. Observe that cutting taxes has produced a government deficit. Cut spending to reduce the deficit. This idea is apparently American in origin, but the US never has quite managed to get the hang of it; they keep getting bogged down at Step 2. The federal […]
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