There is an astonishingly large underclass in the world’s richest nation: Gov’t estimates 754,000 homeless people By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press The nation has three-quarters of a million homeless people, filling emergency shelters through the year and spilling into special seasonal shelters in the coldest months, the government said Wednesday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated there were […]
Read morehttp://www.canadianlabour.ca/index.php/briefs_to_parliament/1096 The Canadian Labour Congress today submitted to the Parliamentary Committee looking at Bill C-30, the Clean Air Act which deals with greenhouse gas emissions. Our brief sets out a broad labour perspective on climate change issues – focusing on the need for a planned transition to a more environmentally sustainable economy. Labour supports sticking with Kyoto, deeper emissions reduction […]
Read moreThis story in the Star points at (another) re-announcement of the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB), a Canadian version of the US Earned Income Tax Credit first announced by then-finance minister Ralph Goodale in his economic and fiscal update prior to the last election. In the 2006 federal budget, the Tories announced they were continuing with the WITB, due to […]
Read moreThe CCPA released a study today, part of a mega-project on inequality in Canada, looking at changes in income and work hours for Canadian families with children. The report, by Armine Yalnizyan, finds that the top 10% are pulling away. While the report looks at distribution by deciles, it would be interesting to pull a Saez and Veall, to see […]
Read moreThis piece in the New York Times by economist Austan Goolsbee is a nice antidote to the puff piece, My Dinner with Conrad, that appeared on the cover and a full page in the main section of today’s Globe and Mail. In that piece, the author lowers the standards of journalism even further by submitting as evidence her dinner with […]
Read moreThe following is intended to be a complete and accessible list of papers, but not articles, on TILMA. If I have missed anything, please link to it in a “comment.” Criticism of TILMA Gerlach, Loretta. Examining the Implications of TILMA for Saskatchewan. Regina: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2006. Gould, Ellen. Asking for Trouble: The Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility […]
Read morehttp://business.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2023410,00.html The current panic on the world’s markets is indicative of more than just the madness of crowds, writes Larry Elliott Wednesday February 28, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Predictably, the crash in global share prices is being shrugged off as a mere blip. The fact that Shanghai fell by 9% in a day and Wall Street had its biggest one-day fall […]
Read moreWomen face what has been called “statistical discrimination” in getting employment. That is, an assumption exists that a woman is more likely to leave the job in order to have children, and thus women are less likely to be hired. A new study from Statistics Canada finds evidence that this is not the case, at least after 1994. Gender differences […]
Read moreMarch is coming and with it the trial of Conrad Black. Racketeering, fraud, embezzelment, money laundering, insider trading – it promises to be a fascinating trial, due to the size of the crimes and the even bigger size of Black’s ego. Conrad Black is a Canadian icon, a man people love to hate. His fall from grace will thus garner […]
Read moreI just received my 2006 issue of Society at a Glance: OECD Social Indicators. (Best seen in living colour!) The OECD now regularly reports systematic national indicators of earnings inequality (Table EQ2.1). I have made wide use in the past of data for the mid to late 1990s circulated in the OECD Employment Outlook, which are now dated. The new […]
Read moreYesterday and the day before, several newspapers posted the following story about TILMA. Although it is disappointing to read uncritical reporting of the Conference Board’s $4.8-billion figure, it is good to see the Canadian Press report that “The NDP governments in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have said they’re not interested in signing on.” While opponents of TILMA should remain vigilant in Saskatchewan […]
Read morehttp://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/srpt_rrsp_022007.pdf An interesting piece on retirement savings from CIBC. It highlights the huge increase in unused RRSP contribution room in recent years, and the widening contribution gap between higher and lower income Canadians. As of 2005, the median total asset value of RRSPs held by pre retirement persons aged 55-65 was just $60,000 – hardly enough to secure a decent […]
Read morehttp://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/070223/d070223a.htm Philip Cross of Statscan has writen an interesting analysis of our very weak labour productivity performance in 2006. Output per hour growth has been very slow – a result of weak output growth combined with fairly strong job growth. The key factor highlighted here is declining productivity in the mining sector as production shifts to less accessible resources, and […]
Read moreTo flesh out the cost-effectiveness issue outlined below, consider the following figures. McKenzie estimates that a 10% decrease in the cost of R&D due to a tax credit increases R&D by 2% in the short term and 7% in the long term, but that a 10% decrease in the effective tax rate on production increases R&D by 3% in the […]
Read moreThis afternoon, I attended Kenneth McKenzie’s presentation at Industry Canada on “Taxes, R&D and Enterprise Formation.” To a large extent, it was based on his C. D. Howe Institute Commentary. His main message is that governments seeking to promote R&D can “push” by reducing its cost through incentives (i.e. subsidies) or “pull” by increasing its benefit through lower taxes on […]
Read moreAs a teaser for the PEF’s new John Kenneth Galbraith Prize, to be inaugurated at this year’s Canadian Economics Association meetings by his son James Galbraith, here is a short piece the latter did for The Nation last April, as one of several contributors on the theme, “taming global capitalism anew”: Taming Predatory Capitalism JAMES K. GALBRAITH In 1899 Thorstein […]
Read moreIn setting monetary policy, the Bank of Canada emphasizes “Core CPI,” which excludes the most volatile components of the Consumer Price Index to provide a clearer measure of underlying trends. My last post noted that average Canadian wage increases exceeded inflation by only 1% during the past year. However, inflation was held down by a dip in energy prices. Therefore, […]
Read morehttp://papers.nber.org/papers/W12910 An instructive – and admittedly interesting – example of the proclivity of economists to reduce almost everything to rationalist explanations. Attack Assignments in Terror Organizations and The Productivity of Suicide Bombers Efraim Benmelech, Claude Berrebi NBER Working Paper No. 12910 Issued in February 2007 NBER Program(s):Â Â Â LS Â Â Â POL This paper studies the relation between human capital of suicide bombers […]
Read moreBC Budget 2007 is a “housing budget†that does not build much housing. The budget commits to a mere 250 new social housing units over two years – a far cry from the 2,000 per year that was built back when the federal and provincial governments were in the game (before 1993). At this pace, it will take 17 years […]
Read moreDespite Alberta’s booming economy, Albertans are making about the same amount per hour as they were a year ago. Specifically, the resource boom has increased prices as much as wages. Statistics Canada released January’s inflation numbers today. It is interesting to compare them with January’s wage numbers. Nationwide, average hourly wages increased by 2.2% and consumer prices rose by 1.2% […]
Read moreThis article below from the Toronto Star looks at efforts to create a Canadian Index of Welfare (CIW). Some folks would like to heave GDP out the window in favour of something that looks like a CIW, but this would be a mistake. A CIW could add to our understanding, but it could not replace GDP. While GDP has many […]
Read moreThe CAW has merged with about 35 smaller unions since we were formed in 1985. That doesn’t stop me, however, from questioning the economic usefulness of Canadian corporate mergers. M&A activity last year reached an incredible $270 billion. That’s 20 percent of our GDP. And what good actually comes from it? At best, the M&A boom is a sideshow. At […]
Read moreI bet you didn’t expect to see this title on Relentlessly Progressive Economics, and it’s not just an attempt to get more Google hits. This story highlights some important questions about inheritance. Not surprisingly, men have lined up for DNA tests to stake a claim on her late husband’s fortune via her baby. While some individuals have been criticized for […]
Read more… is working nicely, says the Mayor: Charging ahead Ken Livingstone February 16, 2007 2:45 PM http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ken_livingstone/2007/02/of_course_the_catastrophe_didn.html In 2003, congestion charging was introduced in the most clogged-up central area of London against a backdrop of almost universal media scepticism and many gleeful predictions of catastrophe. Of course the catastrophe didn’t happen. London is now in the position of being the […]
Read moreThe Canadian Labour Congress is one of several institutions that comments on Statistics Canada’s monthly Labour Force Survey. As the Ottawa Sun reported last week, a striking fact in the latest release was the net loss of 10,000 full-time positions in Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland in January.   February 10, 2007 Job numbers game Rising employment figures don’t tell true story of […]
Read moreCraig MacInnis in his Vancouver Sun column compares Alberta’s intransigence on oil and gas with BC’s new green laurels. What he misses is TILMA. Having signed this deal (there is still time to pull out) that will definitely impact Alberta’s oil and gas sector, BC is giving them a club to bash the provincial government over the head. Alberta Premier […]
Read moreVancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan adds his two cents: good urban design, through higher densities and good public transit, needs to be part of the solution. It’s time to talk about urban density Tue 13 Feb 2007 As mayor of one of Canada’s biggest cities, Vancouver, I am frustrated with the nature of the debate on global climate change in this […]
Read moreMore musings below on how BC can meet its new climate change commitments. Hint: they go far beyond what was identified in the Throne Speech. But I am quite pleased that this discussion is happening on page one of the Vancouver Sun: Campbell’s Green Dream To reduce emissions by 33 %: Can he deliver? Thursday, February 15, 2007 British Columbia […]
Read more An interesting and informed reflection on the sources of rising inequality - seen as not reducible to “skill biased technological change”, with the usual cop out that almost all of the answer lies in education and training. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070206/default.htm Remarks by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke Before the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Omaha, Nebraska February 6, 2007 The Level and Distribution […]
Read moreThe CCPA released two papers today on the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement, one by Ellen Gould that looks at the potential risks posed by the deal’s sweeping language, and a second by myself and Erin Weir, on the contrived economic case made for TILMA. Both papers can be downloaded here. Below is the press release, which provides a […]
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