From PEF member Nick Falvo, from today’s Toronto Star: City has a useful plan but still needs funding TheStar.com – comment – City has a useful plan but still needs funding January 15, 2008 Nick Falvo Over the past decade, media attention surrounding homelessness has been widespread, prompting Canadians to become increasingly concerned about a mounting social crisis. Shelter usage […]
Read moreDave Sawyer, one of the authors of the National Round Table on Environment and Economy report, and blogger at EnviroEconomics.ca, makes some pertinent insider comments on the efficacy of a carbon tax in reducing emissions from personal transportation, a major source of emissions: While the carbon tax will “drive†some reductions in vehicle kilometers traveled, we can’t expect much from […]
Read moreAs discussed here three weeks ago, Dion appointed Joan Beatty as the Liberal by-election candidate in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River just over a week ago. Since then, Ralph Goodale has tried to make much of the fact that other prospective candidates should have been aware of this possibility and opponents of the appointment have organized feverishly.
Read moreThe Finance Minister denies my charges that a slowdown could lead to a deficit, as reported on CBC: Flaherty rejects think-tank’s deficit warning Last Updated: Monday, January 14, 2008 | 2:50 PM ET Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday that there’s no substance to worries that the country will head back into a deficit situation if the economy slows. Flaherty was responding to a […]
Read moreWith each passing day, more and more commentators are concerned about an economic slowdown. South of the border, the talk is even more pessimistic with the consensus essentially that the US economy is headed for recession in 2008, if not already in one. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and Brookings have each released papers on principles for fiscal […]
Read moreThe National Round Table on Environment and Economy made the news this week with its report to the federal government on how the feds’ own climate change targets could be achieved, and with minimal impact on the economy. The NRTEE was established way back when by Brian Mulroney, who a couple years ago was dubbed “Canada’s Greenest Prime Minister†(little […]
Read moreToday’s job numbers show that fears of a looming recession are justified, and underline the need for immediate action. Labour has called for cuts to interest rates to help bring down the dollar, a national high level task force on the manufacturing jobs crisis, targeted measures to support new manufacturing investment, and job creation through Buy in Canada policies tied […]
Read more“Targets and timelines” is the new mantra for anti-poverty activists, and increasingly, governments. When it comes to climate change, taking it seriously means setting goals and deadlines to meet them, a process now underway, if perhaps too slowly. The same is true for poverty reduction. If we are serious about eradicating poverty (say, over the course of a generation) we […]
Read moreWith a weakening US economy that may well spill over into Canada, it is time to start thinking about fiscal policy responses should recession rear its ugly head. To date much of the focus has been on monetary policy, with calls for central banks to lower interest rates. This is providing some relief, but as many economists have pointed out, […]
Read moreRandall Wray, in a paper for the Levy Institute, provides a nice history of the sub-prime debacle, and connects it to the economics of Hyman Minsky (whose name has resurfaced in the wake of the current connundrum) in Lessons from the Sub-prime Meltdown: This paper uses Hyman P. Minsky’s approach to analyze the current international financial crisis, which was initiated […]
Read moreA good piece by novelist John Lanchester from the London Review of Books – on the City (London finance), inequality, and the credit crisis. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n01/lanc01_.html
Read moreIn my holiday reading were two manifestos – how often can you say that? The first arrived by mail just before the break, the Manifesto on Global Economic Transitions, published in September 2007 by the International Forum on Globalization, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Global Project on Economic Transitions (I will dub this the IFG Manifesto). The second […]
Read moreMoore makes several accurate and entertaining points in today’s open letter. Although he stops short of officially endorsing Edwards, his final paragraph comes pretty close. Who Do We Vote For This Time Around? A Letter from Michael Moore Friends, A new year has begun. And before we’ve had a chance to break our New Year’s resolutions, we find ourselves with […]
Read moreDuncan Cameron writes that it could be: What is needed to make 2008 Jack’s year to set the policy direction for Canada? How about: something old, something new, something borrowed, and something true. The something old is the concern for the less fortunate that has motivated New Democrats since the adoption of the Regina Manifesto in 1933 by its predecessor the […]
Read moreAt least 79% of the increase in Canadian non-residential investment this decade has come from the oil industry and governments. Jim and others on this blog often note that, although corporate profits have ballooned, business investment has barely increased as a share of GDP. However, this fact means that business investment has grown along with GDP and it’s worth examining […]
Read moreJanuary 2 will be the 20th anniversary of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement’s signing. (Of course, the deal did not come into force until January 1, 1989, after the 1988 federal election.) The leading lobby for this deal was the Business Council on National Issues, which has since been renamed the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE). The promise of […]
Read moreEdwards is the most left-wing, pro-labour candidate among the Democratic front-runners. He has been speaking truth to power in a way that is rare in Canadian politics, let alone American politics. Can he win the nomination? Since Clinton is still well ahead in nationwide polls, much will depend on whether Edwards can gain momentum by winning Iowa on Thursday. Although […]
Read moreThe Globe has chosen Don Johnson “Nation Builder of the Year†for his long campaign to waive capital gains tax on charitable contributions of shares. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071220.wnationwattcloutier28/BNStory/National/home This has, reportedly, resulted in a flood of donations by Canada’s most wealthy families to deserving, and not so deserving, charities. Many of us would count gifts to business schools and conservative […]
Read moreThe current issue of Maclean’s features a typically provocative cover on “Real Estate 2008.” The “Buy? Sell? Panic?” headline caught my attention because I am currently selling a place in Ottawa and moving to Toronto. The story inside Maclean’s is far more soothing, suggesting that there is no risk of a real estate crash in major Canadian cities because: sub-prime […]
Read morePM Harper likes to say that it will be costly to fight climate change, but he conveniently ignores the costs that climate change itself is reaping (or has the potential to reap). A year-end report from Environment Canada points at some of the current financial costs associated with climate change. The top story is the shrinking arctic ice cap, and […]
Read moreEarlier today, the Prime Minister announced that four by-elections will be held on March 17. Earlier this week, a most fascinating controversy emerged in one of the affected ridings: Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River (northern Saskatchewan). David Orchard, the Saskatchewan-based activist whose grassroots organization helped Dion win the Liberal leadership, has declared his candidacy for the Liberal nomination. However, Ralph Goodale is pushing […]
Read moreThe following Paul Krugman column confirms my general thoughts about American politics: At one extreme, Barack Obama insists that the problem with America is that our politics are so “bitter and partisan,” and insists that he can get things done by ushering in a “different kind of politics.” At the opposite extreme, John Edwards blames the power of the wealthy […]
Read moreJared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute on just released US data which show a rather starting further increase in US income inequality – apparently the top 1% of families there now get 19% of all after tax income and average over $1 Million apiece. Looks like a blog to monitor, for those who want to follow dismal and other […]
Read moreWhere is Finance Minister Flaherty? by Doug Peters and Arthur Donner. (from today’s Toronto Star) (Doug Peters is the former Chief Economist of The Toronto-Dominion Bank and was Secretary of State (Finance) from 1993 to 1997. Arthur Donner, a Toronto economic consultant, began his career as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of NewYork.) “The credit problems […]
Read moreAn open letter to Susan Riley (Ottawa Citizen) Dear Susan I always enjoy your columns, but feel compelled to modestly take issue with yesterday’s highly critical piece on Layton and the NDP. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=380c76cc-f1cc-4aa8-84d7-4aadebd0ec1f  Yes, Layton is sometimes unduly macho combative and, yes, the frequent attacks on the Liberals do sometimes grate, especially if they allow Harper to get off […]
Read moreProgressive Economics Forum members are invited to nominate individuals for the first John Kenneth Galbraith Prize in Economics. The Prize will be awarded at the June 2008 Canadian Economics Association meetings and will be accompanied by a keynote lecture by the winner. Nominations will close January 31, 2008. Please send your nominations to PEF Chair, Marc Lee, at marc [at] […]
Read moreToday’s Consumer Price Index numbers indicate that, while gasoline prices and mortgage-interest costs edged-up overall inflation in November, core inflation declined again. When it fell last month, some commentators responded that “one month does not make a trend.” However, as Statistics Canada itself noted, a fairly clear trend has emerged: However, the Bank of Canada’s core index, used to monitor […]
Read moreSix leading US economists take on this question in the NYT, and it doesn’t sound good: Â http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/opinion/16recession.html
Read more“It is often harder to move goods and services across provincial boundaries than across our international borders” October 2007 Speech from the Throne As if Erin Weir and I have not already beat this one into submission, another reminder from today’s Globe and Mail that is it NOT easier to trade across the Canada-US border. The main story draws on […]
Read moreNiels Veldhuis of the Fraser Institute takes me to task today in a Letter to the Editor in response to the story, ‘Tax the rich more in Canada, study urges” (Nanaimo Daily News, Dec. 12). He claims that “the story focusing on the report by Canadian Labour Congress economist Andrew Jackson is seriously misleading… the report conveniently ignores the impact […]
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