Category The 2008-9 recession
Something is wrong with the Quebec economy
I generally don't pay much attention to the month-to-month changes in the provincial employment numbers, but there's something going on in Quebec.
Is Ontario to Canada as Spain is to Europe?
I sometimes like to look at Canada through the eurozone lens: both are monetary unions in which certain regions have done better than others. For example, there are some interesting parallels between Spain and Ontario, in particular, the fact that employment losses in Spain and Ontario were disproportionately larger than employment losses elsewhere in Europe and Canada. So this […]
Where will Canada’s growth come from?
The consensus outlook for Canadian economic growth in 2012 is generally tepid, with the possibility of another international financial crisis tipping us into recession as it did in the fall of 2008. After looking over the potential sources of growth, it's easy to see where this consensus came from. One of those data-intensive posts with […]
Real wages during the recession
I've seen a few stories about recent trends in wages, and too many of them seem to be trying to make a big deal out of movements that – when in put in context – are really too small to say much of anything. [Updated in an almost-certainly futile attempt to combat confirmation bias.]
How many Canadians are losing and finding jobs?
A couple of weeks ago, I noted that as far as I could make out from available data, rates of job creation returned to pre-recession levels more than a year ago. This time, I'm going to try to get a handle on the gross flows on the other side of the market – that is, in […]
Why do people think that Canadian job creation rates require a policy response?
Pundits and politicians are calling on the government to "do something" about the state of the Canadian labour market; these calls are presumably based on a perception that job growth is still weak. It's not clear upon which data this assessment is based. The data that would be most informative are no longer being collected, […]
Medieval Monetary Thought
In my final class lecture this week on ancient and medieval economic thought, I discussed the work of Nicholas Oresme (1320 to 1382), a French Roman Catholic bishop who was also a philosopher, mathematician and an economic thinker. I found it interesting to see a career link between mathematics and economics so early on. More […]
The world wants more US government debt. The US Treasury should supply it.
This fascinating story came out during the psychodrama of the US debt ceiling: U.S. Treasury debt prices soared on Friday on fears a U.S. default could trigger a shortage of Treasuries and even push the world's largest economy back into recession. On the face of it, this makes no sense. The market's reaction to a […]
Net Worth, Wealth Effects and Recessions
According to a report by Bank of Nova Scotia economists Derek Holt and Karen Woods, Canadian businesses have begun to pull back on investment and accumulate inventories which may be a sign that the economy is about to head into another recession. After the surprise second quarter drop in GDP, if there is another drop, […]
Employment and Political Regimes: Some Ontario Evidence
According to a recent Nanos poll conducted for the Globe and Mail, after health care, the economy/jobs is the top concern of Ontario voters this fall election. Ontario voters may be interested on how employment growth has fared in their particular neck of the woods under various political regimes.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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