Tag Archives: United States

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 […]

Recessions and Making Babies

It would appear that the severity of the global recession is affecting fertility rates in many countries.  The fertility rate as measured by the number of live births per woman in Europe has dropped substantially in a number of countries according to The Economist.  These results suggest that rather than lowering the opportunity cost of […]

Trade Shift?

Well, Stephen Harper’s recent statement during a talk at the Woodrow Wilson International Center as reported by the Globe and Mail during his recent visit to the United States that: “We cannot be in a situation where really our one and only energy partner can say no to our energy products” underscores what seems to […]

Is There a Hauser’s Law for Canada Too?

            Economics has a number of “Laws” floating around that are rooted in empirical observation and then put forth as natural inexorable systemic laws.  For example, in public finance, there is Wagner’s Law of Expanding State Activity, which links the size of the public sector to income.  In health economics, there is Roemer’s Law, which […]

A Longer Term View of U.S. Public Debt

With the August 2nd deadline for raising the United States public debt ceiling looming, it might be useful to take a longer-term view on exactly how bad the US debt situation is at least with respect to the past. 

Resolving the U.S. Fiscal Crisis

The current debate in the United States over their budget deficit and debt does not appear to be generating solutions that will solve their problem anytime soon.  According to the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of President Obama’s budget proposals, the deficit under the President’s proposals would at first fall, but after 2015 would begin to […]

America’s Dangerous Debt

The budget turmoil in the United States is certainly attracting a lot of attention and of a kind it is unaccustomed to given its global power status.  The International Monetary Fund has just urged the United States to outline credible measures to reduce its budget deficit as well as a plan to reduce its massive […]