Tag Archives: economic growth
Economic Inequality, Saving and Economic Growth
“It is generally recognized that more saving takes place in communities in which the distribution of wealth is uneven than in those in which it approaches more closely to modern conceptions of what is just.” T.S. Ashton (1948) The Industrial Revolution 1760-1830, p. 7. I came across this quote while reading Ashton’s account of the […]
Explaining the Health Spending Slowdown
Canadian Institute for Health Information numbers show that there is a moderation in health expenditure growth underway. From a growth rate of 6.1 percent in 2010, the CIHI estimates growth in total nominal health spending of 3.9 percent in 2011 and 3.4 percent in 2012. Over the same period, the health expenditure to GDP ratio […]
Taxation and Economic Growth
I had a bit of an intellectual crisis this evening as I pondered the conventional wisdom in economics regarding the choice between reducing consumption taxes or income taxes. Briefly put, the simple conventional wisdom is that taxes on consumption are preferred to income taxes because they encourage saving and long-term capital formation and economic growth. […]
Debt and Growth
As you probably all know, the Reinhart-Rogoff 2010 study found economic growth slows when the debt to GDP ratio exceeds 90 percent. They used data for 44 countries over a 200-year period and found the relationship between debt and real GDP growth was weak for debt to GDP ratios below 90 percent. However, above 90 […]
Growing Ontario One Report at a Time
The Conference Board of Canada has chimed in on what ails Ontario and how to get it moving in a recently released report titled Needed: A Comprehensive Growth Strategy for Ontario. The report argues that after rebounding from the 2008-09 recession, Ontario has slipped into tepid growth of around 2 percent annually and needs a […]
An Economic Salute to US Presidents!
Well tonight is the next US Presidential debate and what better way to help set the stage than an economic retrospective on American Presidents and their relative performance when it comes to economic growth. I went onto Eh.Net and have obtained real per capita US GDP in 2005 constant dollars for the period 1790 to […]
Ranking Prime Ministers: Are Tory Times Really Tough Times?
There is an old adage in Canadian political lore that “Tory times are tough times” and that Liberal governments have generally seen more prosperous times. Given that every Prime Minister since Confederation has been either a Liberal or a Conservative, it should be a relatively simple matter to find indicators rank the economic performance of […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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