It has been a relatively low key federal election campaign so far, with a surprising amount of convergence on some key issues by the major parties. As a bit of blip, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau pledged on August 25 that a returning Liberal government would raise the corporate tax rate on the profits on all banks and life insurance companies, […]
Read moreA guest blog post from Larry Kazdan, publisher of the “Modern Monetary Theory in Canada” blog: https://mmtincanada.jimdo.com/contact/. Under legislation that came into effect in December 2015, e-petitions that garner at least 500 on-line signatures and that are sponsored by an MP can be tabled in Parliament. The federal government is then required to provide a written response, also posted online, within […]
Read moreA guest blog post from Mario Seccareccia, Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa The NDP went through a roller coaster ride in 2015. It would seem that the party still hasn’t fully recovered from the outcome of that election, and it will probably remain so until it elects a new leader and gets its “policy house” in order. At the […]
Read moreThe massive change dealt by Canadian voters to the seating arrangement in the House of Commons last Monday has seen the 3rd party Liberals leap to a majority government, sending the incumbent Conservatives across the aisle to the Official Opposition bench and the once-hopeful NDP back to the 3rd party seats. In addition to the disappointment of being reduced from […]
Read moreWow!  What an upset!  A Liberal majority!   From 35 seats to what are they projecting … 185!? If the Liberals outflanked the NDP on progressive economic policy, it was on a single issue, that of budget policy. With the Liberals promising three years of budget deficits to finance infrastructure spending and the NDP committing to four years of balanced budget […]
Read more“I don’t read newspapers, I don’t watch the news. I figure, if something important happens, someone will tell me.” Justin Trudeau’s surprising confession in a 2001 Globe and Mail essay (“Something I’m Passionate About”, Feb.3) raises three questions: 1) does he read newspapers and watch the news now?; 2) if yes, does he read the Report on Business, Wall Street […]
Read moreIn an earlier post, I sought to explain (not necessarily defend) the Mulcair team’s decision to run balanced budgets as an election campaign tactic to counter being branded by the Conservatives (and potentially the Liberals)as a profligate manager of the public purse.  Whether or not this tactic is successful will ultimately reflect in the October 19th electoral results. Since this […]
Read moreFirst, disclosure.  I wear several hats.  In addition to being a progressive economist, I am  a member of the NDP.  I have been since 1988.  I will be voting for the NDP candidate in my riding and I just donated $100 to the party,with more to follow. The recent promise of four years of balanced budgets by the Mulcair-led NDP […]
Read moreFrench economist Jean Tirole has won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on industrial organization and regulation, in particular his insights into oligopolies.  “Who is Jean Tirole?,  many non-economists and some economists are asking today. The MIT-educated, Toulouse-based professor is a key figure in the New Industrial Organization (IO) movement. The movement, with its roots in the […]
Read moreA guest blog post from Louis-Philippe Rochon: GETTING YOUR ARTICLES PUBLISHED:Â JOURNAL EDITORS OFFER SOME ADVICE This short note is aimed at graduate students and faculty members alike who are looking to get their papers published in academic journals, a crucial exercise for the job market, but also in getting tenure and promotion. Our advice is based on our collective experience […]
Read moreA guest blog post from Mario Seccareccia and Louis-Philippe Rochon. After learning that the Canada Revenue Agency is auditing  the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives  on the grounds that it allegedly engages in politically partisan, biased and one-sided research activity,  a number of university professors  have drawn up an open letter asking the Minister of National Revenue place a moratorium on its […]
Read moreWatching Rob Ford in the recent weeks reminds me of what John Ralston Saul once wrote of Benito Mussolini and his contemporary reincarnation in Silvio Berlusconi: “He was the nascent modern Heroic leader. Mussolini combined the interests of corporatism with public relations and sport, while replacing public debate and citizen participation with false populism and the illusion of direct democracy.†[…]
Read moreWe are on the edge of disaster without being able to situate it in the future: it is rather always already past. Maurice Blanchot.  Over the last month, I admittedly got so caught up in the rhetorical swirl of the coming disaster that I woke up December 1st expecting statistical confirmation that Canada slipped into recession in 2008 only to […]
Read moreThe asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) debacle: who is to blame? According to the National Post , it’s everybody and nobody. I find myself in unusual agreement. While I don’t wish to see likely criminals let off the hook, a better approach out of this mess is to change the rules of the game. Last August, the Canadian market for non-bank ABCP was […]
Read moreAh, the confluence of the events! The tabling of a “prudent†federal budget for uncertain times, followed a week later by news of slowing economic growth. Of course, rumors of the economy’s imminent decline may be greatly exaggerated, given January’s jobs report and trade data. But let’s carry forth with the economic accounts data. Earlier, Erin and Toby drew […]
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