I recently debated Ottawa Citizen columnist and MacDonald-Laurier Institute honcho John Robson on BNN regarding the role of unions in society. It was a rather nasty exchange, as these things go: he’s a smart, aggressive, neo-con who was on the offensive from the opening introductions:          A few days later, he lampooned me in a column, titled “An Economic […]
Read moreIglika reported to me that Kevin Milligan made the argument in favour of the HST that its presence was economically beneficial because it induces additional investment on the margin, as projects that previously did not meet a certain profit threshold would become real investments. This is a net gain (forget about who benefits from those investments) even if the vast […]
Read moreThis piece was initially posted on the Globe and Mail’s online business feature, Economy Lab. Join the comments section! For 18 years I’ve been part of a national project in participatory budgeting called the Alternative Federal Budget. Each year dozens of national and community organizations representing millions of Canadians convene over a six month period, debating and costing out measures […]
Read more(Here’s a piece that will be in the next quarterly Economic Climate for Bargaining publication I produce, also posted on the CUPE website in pdf format.) There’s a widely held myth now accepted by many people—that public spending in Canada has increased steeply and is growing at unaffordable and unsustainable rates. In fact, the opposite is true. The latest figures […]
Read moreAnother reason for that intolerably high public sector compensation premium — Further to my earlier post showing that the public/private sector pay gap is mainly due to more equal pay for women in service jobs, a recent piece from Canadian Public Policy by Hou and Coulombe shows that the pay gap between Canadian born racialized workers and non racialized workers […]
Read moreToday’s Globe has a long article by Konrad Yakabuski on the potential for a Wisconsin style attack on Canadian public sector workers. It’s hard to challenge his argument that this is very much in prospect, and indeed we seem set for a debate – or a series of national, provincial and municipal debates – on the allegedly large superiority of pay and […]
Read moreMore from Sylvain: The part-time rate in February 2011 -Â 19.7% of the workforce working part-time – fell just short of the highest levels ever recorded in July and August 2010. Not only has part-time work risen in the recession and recovery, it has been clearly driven by the lack of full-time jobs. 265,900 non-seasonally adjusted part time jobs were […]
Read moreAnalysis from my colleague Sylvan Schetagne .. The Canadian economy in February 2011 had fewer full-time jobs, but more part-time, self employment and temporary work. These are not signs of a strong job recovery. The unemployment rate remained stable at 7.8%, but job quality decreased significantly last month. The number of full-time jobs was down by 23,800 while part-time work […]
Read moreIn a couple of recent posts, I threw down the gauntlet for PotashCorp to disclose how much corporate income tax and Crown royalties it paid to the Government of Saskatchewan. As Bruce Johnstone reports, it has finally done so: While PotashCorp paid $77 million in resource surcharges in 2010, it also paid $82 million in corporate income taxes and $70 […]
Read moreI attended an interesting forum on the economic outlook yesterday afternoon. Organized by Canada 2020, the speakers were noted US economist Brad DeLong (UCal Berkley, former senior Treasury official under Clinton, and Paul Krugman soul mate on macro issues at least), and our own David Dodge (who needs no intro.). De Long’s main focus was on the US, and his […]
Read moreI have no informed view on the merits or downsides of this proposed takeover of the Toronto exchange, but find it interesting the degree to which the Canadian corporate and political elites have again  fractured on the issue of foreign ownership of “strategic” assets. This is an interesting piece from the Financial Times of London. Most of the banks led […]
Read moreMichael Lewis has a great article in today’s Toronto Star about the windfall that banks are reaping from corporate tax cuts. He quotes three of our favourite bloggers: Toby Sanger, Armine Yalnizyan and Jim Stanford. He also cites a BMO Capital Markets report that I shared with him. Since BMO appears to have removed this document from its website, I […]
Read moreTen days ago, Jack Mintz released yet another paper claiming that international competitiveness requires continued corporate tax cuts. In addition to the usual questionable interpretations, it featured at least one straight factual error. Mintz inaccurately reports Iceland’s 2010 statutory corporate tax rate as 15% (Table 2 on page 7 and Table 3 on page 9 in the PDF). In reality, […]
Read moreToday’s Saskatoon StarPhoenix and Regina Leader-Post cover my recent analysis of PotashCorp’s annual report. I suggested that the company may be paying less corporate income tax to Saskatchewan than to Trinidad. PotashCorp could clear things up anytime by simply disclosing the amount of corporate tax it paid to the Saskatchewan government. Rather than doing so, its spokesman argues that the […]
Read moreGrowing up in Saskatchewan, I never imagined myself blogging in praise of Rick Swenson. First, blogs did not exist then. Second, I generally disagreed with Swenson, a former cabinet minister in Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative government. Swenson is back as leader of the provincial Progressive Conservative party, whose caucus quit to join with right-wing Liberals and federal Reformers to create the […]
Read moreThe “science†of economics has for most of its history relied on theory more than experimentation, which is quite literally the testing grounds of all “real†science. The birth of behavioural economics in the 1970s permitted economists to start testing theory rigorously, by borrowing empirical methods from psychology and other social sciences to lift the veil behind what makes us, […]
Read more“The already wealthy have emerged from the global recession in an even wealthier position. What does the rise of global elites mean to power and influence at home and abroad?” That’s the blurb from TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, the latest Canadian news show to tackle the issue that explains so much of what is going on: rising inequality. […]
Read moreI was at our neighbourhood leftie bookstore today and picked up a copy of the new book from John Loxley at the University of Manitoba: Aboriginal, Northern, and Community Economic Development: Papers and Retrospectives (Arbeiter Ring: 2010). It’s a collection of John’s work over the years in the area of first nations and northern economic development. He has dedicated untold […]
Read moreBoomers are getting blamed for an awful lot of fiscal problems these days. But blaming an aging population for healthcare costs spiraling out of control is misplaced. Missing opportunities to manage and contain costs is the real culprit. Take, for example, our spending on prescription drugs. Costs in that part of the healthcare system have been rising by almost 10% […]
Read moreMultinational corporations generally provide more detail to the US Security and Exchange Commission than in their Canadian annual reports. Thank goodness for American disclosure requirements. Along with its 2010 Annual Report, PotashCorp released its Annual Report on Form 10-K (a Security and Exchange Commission filing) on Friday afternoon. The following section is on pages 14 and 15: Royalties and Certain […]
Read moreThe Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan posted its 2010 annual report yesterday. It’s always worth taking a closer look at documents released on a Friday afternoon. Those interested in public revenues should see pages 109, 110 and 111. Note 19’s breakdown of “Provincial Mining and Other Taxes†confirms something that I had suspected. PotashCorp paid zero Potash Production Tax in 2010. […]
Read more(Revised Post adds detail.) If you read the Economist as I do you will be struck by those full page ads extolling the virtues of first class and business travel on Emirates airlines. A lounge on board. For those in first, a private suite with full fold out bed to sleep on. Even hot showers. Limo pick up and delivery to […]
Read moreI’m finding the run-up to the federal Budget (widely expected March 22nd) more than a little frustrating. There is certainly no sharp public policy debate regarding budget priorities. The dominant media frame reinforces the Conservative message that 1) recovery is underway 2) the federal books have to be balanced and 3) tax increases are bad. This frame excludes discussion of […]
Read moreStatscan investment intentions data released today show thatgrowth of  real investment by the private sector is set to slow markedly in 2011 compared to 2010. (up 3.8% vs up 8.0% in 2010.) So much for the stimulative effect of corporate tax cuts. Surprise, surprise investment is concentrated in the resource sector, especially oil, where high prices and profits guarantee high returns to […]
Read moreMy new colleague Chris Roberts has prepared an analysis of the pros and cons of the Canada Pension Plan and the proposed Pooled Registered Pension Plans. The following is taken from the introduction: “Pooled Registered Pension Plans are privately administered workplace pension plans similar in many respects to a defined contribution (DC) workplace pension plan, or group Registered Retirement Savings […]
Read moreBelow is an oped on my new carbon pricing paper that was published today in the Vancouver Sun. Our communications officers have also done a cool animation about carbon pricing in BC, available on the CCPA web page. Look to Europe for Next Phase of BC’s Carbon Tax When it comes to good urban planning, transportation and taking action on […]
Read moreOne of my pet beefs is the frequently heard CFIB claim that small businesses are the job creators, not large enterprises. What is small and what is big? It all depends on whether you look at the size of the workplace, or the number of employees of a company at all locations. Wal Mart may be modest in size by […]
Read moreClimate change is upon us – it feels like we see evidence almost daily in the form of extreme weather events, floods, drought, reductions in food supply, and so on. We have a lot of work to do to transform our economy from one still dominated by a resource extraction mindset, where we cut taxes and regulations in the hopes […]
Read moreI recently came across a fascinating working paper from the good folks at the Levy Institute, which provides some new data on Canada’s rather subservient role in world commerce: “Product Complexity and Economic Development,” by Arnelyn Abdon, Marife Bacate, Jesus Felipe (corresponding author), and Ustav Kumar.
Read moreThe National Post ran a little pro-and-con debate on minimum wages in today’s paper. I was the “pro” side; my argument was excerpted from a longer paper on “What determines wages and income distribution” that is available on the CAW’s web site. The “con” side was written by two economists at the Fraser Institute.
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