Albeit in a highly nuanced way, the IMF has called on the G-20 to temper short-term fiscal austerity now that the global economy “has entered a dangerous phase.” In their submission to the October 14-15 meetings of G-20 finance ministers, the IMF call for medium-term fiscal consolidation plans to “create more policy space for near-term […]
Continue readingAuthor: Andrew Jackson
The Progressive Economics Forum: Recent Immigrants and the Crisis
It is no secret that times of high unemployment and precarious work are especially tough for new and recent entrants to the job market, notably young workers and recent immigrants. The latter were especially hard hit in the recession and slow recovery of the 1990s, when new immigrants had great difficulty finding decent jobs and […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Small Business and the Attack on Unions
In case you had any doubts where the escalating attack on Canadian unions is coming from, check out the web site of the Canadian Labour Watch Association. The Labour Watch site provides detailed information and advice to individual workers and employers on how to fight unionization drives and how to decertify existing unions, including by […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Why Are They So Angry at Wall Street?
Well, we know, but these Charts tell an incredible story. http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Prime Minister and the G20
Prime Minister Harper’s op ed in the Globe today on his hopes for the Cannes summit is disappointing, even if the content comes as no surprise. His focus is on the danger of a relapse into a global recession precipitated by a worsening of the European financial crisis. This is indeed a hugely important issue which […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Neo Liberal Globalization Kills Good Jobs
Well, you’ve heard that kind of line from labour and the left, but now the IMF seems to have been pretty much won over to the argument that global supply chains and technological change are killing more good jobs than they create. In a distinctly gloomy Box starting on p.41 in the latest World Economic […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Fundamentals Are Pretty Shaky
Thanks to Arthur Donner’s Economic Comment for bringing this to my attention. The official line we hear everyday is that the Canadian fundamentals are great, while other countries are in deep trouble because they are spending beyond their means and borrowing too much from the rest of the world. Yet IMF projections show that Canada’s […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The State of the Economy and Labour’s Response
The advanced economies, including Canada, risk falling back into recession because of government spending cuts and a looming financial crisis. The Canadian Labour Congress has been calling for our federal government and the G20 governments to respond by putting jobs first. This paper summarizes the economic situation as of the end of September, 2011 and […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Bring Out the Printing Press!
That’s the only way out of the deepening crisis of the advanced economies, according to FT economics editor Martin Wolf in his column today. “It is the policy that dare not speak its name: the printing press. The time has come to employ this nuclear option on a grand scale. The alternative is likely to […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Stephen Harper and Economics 101
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who prides himself on being an economist, has characterized his government’s fiscal policy as “expansionary.” If he really thinks the simple fact of running a budget deficit is “expansionary”, he should should repeat Economics 101. The correct way to look at the question of whether fiscal policy is expansionary or contractionary […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Wage Deflation Confirmed
In an earlier post, I noted that falling real wages as indicated by July and August data from the Labour Force Survey which showed increases of just 1.4% in hourly wages over the past year signalled trouble ahead: “If this trend continues, it is likely to further undermine a weak recovery, negatively impacting upon consumer […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The G20 and Jobs
The meeting of G20 Labour Ministers in Paris on September 26-27, held in advance of the November G20 Summit in Cannes, reached some conclusions which go some (extremely modest) way toward living up to prior G20 commitments in London and Pittsburgh to promote quality jobs and a more progressive labour market model as part of […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Taxing the Rich
Over at the Globe and Mail Economy Lab our friend Stephen Gordon argues that there are only limited revenues to be gained by taxing the rich. He plays around with some back of the envelope calculations based on CRA data on the incomes of those making more than $500,000 – accurately enough, I think – […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Global Imbalances
The IMF World Economic Outlook notes that the desired process of rebalancing global demand from countries with large trade deficits (notably the US) to countries with large trade surpluses (notably China) is not going very well. Relatedly, it points out just how difficult it is for increased demand in developing economies to offset stagnant or […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Trade Unions Urge G20 Action on Jobs
I am attending the G20 labour ministers meeting next week, which is being held against the background of high unemployment in the advanced economies, and the prospect – highlighted by the IMF yesterday – for unemployment to increase even further in the months ahead. A key union demand – that the G20 establish an ongoing […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Gloom and Doom from the IMF
Further to my earlier post on Recession Ahead?, the IMF have today sharply revised down their forecasts of Canadian growth – from 2.9% to 2.1% in 2001, and from 2.6% to 1.9% in 2o12. The downward revisions for Canada compared to June, 2011 are just about the largest for the advanced economies, second only to […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Fighting Unemployment
I was sorry to miss a celebration of the life and work of Ian Stewart organized by the Centre for the Study of Living Standards last Friday night. Ian was a former senior economic official back in the now distant days of Keynesian dominance, including a stint as Deputy Minister of Finance which will be […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Falling Real Wages Signal Trouble Ahead
The Labour Force Survey for August showed that average hourly wages were up by just 1.4% from a year earlier, the same low level of increase as was registered in July. Consumer price inflation was 2.7% in July, a bit down from 3.1% in June and 3.7% in May, but it seems that we have […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Eurozone Crisis
There is a cogent commentary from Martin Wolf in today’s FT. It is scary indeed that averting financial collapse demands structural changes in the euro area which seem to be politically impossible to achieve.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Recession Ahead?
TD Economics yesterday released a rather gloomy report, putting the odds of a US recession at 40%, and arguing that that Canadian economy is more vulnerable to recession than it was in 2008. It highlights reduced capacity for governments to respond given that interest rates are already very low, and given that that household and […]
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