Tag Archives: USA
The Federal Debt of the United States, 1791 to 2018: A Presidential Ranking
A recent story in the National Post by Tristan Hopper highlighted the “utterly unbelievable scale” of current US federal public debt levels. As is always the case, it is useful to get some historical perspective on the evolution of the U.S. federal debt over time – which under President Trump has become the biggest U.S. […]
Cross Border Shopping Isn’t What it Used to Be
Canadian retailers have recently been concerned that the Canada Border Services Agency has been too lenient with cross-border shoppers in the wake of the increase in duty free limits in 2012. While it is true that cross-border trips have grown substantially over the last decade, I’m not sure they should be that concerned.
Russia or China – Who Should the US Worry More About?
Developments in Crimea have shifted international attention to Russia in a manner we have not seen since the end of the Cold War. Recent years have seen an American preoccupation with the rise of China rather than Russia as a world economic and military power but the question remains – which one might be the […]
Gross Saving: A Comparison
I’m teaching public finance this term and just finished a discussion of the economic effects of income taxation on saving using a simple two period model of inter-temporal consumption. I rounded out the discussion with a comparison of personal savings rates between Canada and the United States and how their savings rates have converged since […]
The Year Ahead
The New Year is when we try to look ahead and project what we think the economy will be like. There is no shortage of forecasts from banks, international economic agencies and independent forecasters as to how the Canadian, US and world economies will fare over the next year.
As the World Turns
Several posts ago, I presented some numbers by Angus Maddison on the evolution of global GDP output shares over the period 1500 to 2001 which showed that Asia’s share of world GDP declined from 1500 to about the mid 20th century but has since been rising. I decided to try and do a bit of […]
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
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