Here is my Economy Lab piece on the study by Philip Cross released yesterday. On close examination, his “expanding sectors” turn out to be low value-added resource processing and his argument that Canadian manufacturing is not in decline does not hold water. The decline in output has been far greater
Continue readingAuthor: Andrew Jackson
The Progressive Economics Forum: What Does the Bank of Canada Do?
The Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada have retained Odgers Berndtson to seek a new Governor, and have placed an ad in the Globe and Mail, the Economist and La Presse. The wording of the advertisement is questionable. First, it states that “the Bank of Canada is the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Best Books of 2012
Here are, in no particular order, my picks for the four best books of 2012 from a progressive economics perspective. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin. The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire. (Verso). I suspect this book will become a classic. It is a rich and
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Coyne on Inequality
Letter to the Editor Ottawa Citizen, December 18 Andrew Coyne (December 14) leaps on a study by TD Economics to claim that “income inequality in Canada has remained more or less flat since the mid 1990s” and that the big surge in the rising income share of the top 1%
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Default Option
Here is an important op ed from the Irish Times by a former senior IMF official, arguing that the most heavily indebted euro countries will have to default on some of their public debt. If they do not, public debt will continue to rise to even more uns…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Mulcair on the Economy
Leader of the Opposition Tom Mulcair gave a fine speech on the Budget Bill on October 24 which can be found in its entirety in Hansard. I have posted some extracts of interest to progressive economists below. They echo many of the arguments made on this blog “What is more, the Conservatives are creating an […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Limits of Demography
Here is a piece I wrote for today’s Globe Economy Lab re the Department of Finance report on the costs of an aging society. The key point is that the mainstream doom and gloom projections of the costs of falling labour force growth ignore the positive impacts which can be
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Effective Corporate Tax Rate Falling
Further to my earlier post critiquing the recent Mintz study – which argued that cuts in corporate tax rates are not significantly denting corporate tax revenues – I looked up the effective corporate tax rate (income tax paid as a percentage of taxable corporate income.) Here is what shows up
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Selective Amnesia at the Bank of Canada
A guest blog from Marc Lavoie and Mario Seccareccia, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa In a speech delivered on October 4th to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce (see: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/2012/10/speeches/a-measure-of-work/), the senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklen, has offered some self-congratulatory remarks, by arguing that the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Canada-US FTA at 25
My take, in the Globe Economy Lab today.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Do Corporate Tax Cuts Really Pay For Themselves?
A new paper by Jack Mintz ( with Duanjie Chen) argues that “corporate tax reductions of more than 30% since 2000 have, contrary to the critics’ cries, failed to make an appreciable dent in tax revenues thanks to multinationals habit of shifting profits to Canada to take advantage of lower
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The End of Men?
The Globe and Mail on Saturday devoted two pages of its Focus section to a discussion of Hanna Rosin’s book, The End of Men. There are a few interesting anecdotes on changing sex roles, but there are no facts cited to substantiate the argument that North America is seeing the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The ECB and the Euro Crisis
Here is an excellent commentary by Andrew Watt on the new ECB commitment to buy bonds without limit to reduce interest rates on the government debt of troubled members of the Euro zone. While an important and necessary step, this still means that deflationary austerity will continue, and that there
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Hayek and Contemporary Neo Liberalism
In the spirit of “know thy enemy”, I recently read Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. (Note to the anxious – I survived the experience, and remain a convinced left Keynesian democratic socialist.) Hayek is, of course, the totemic figure of neo liberalism who fought Keynes and Keynesian economics in the
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Unionization and Labour Market Performance
Further to my earlier post on the “own goal” scored by the Fraser Institute report on North American labour markets, the Table below shows the rankings of the Canadian provinces – out of 60 states and provinces – for (1) labour market performance, 2007-11 and (2) the unionization rate. (I
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Labour Market Regulation and Labour Market Performance
A release by the Fraser Institute – Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States, 2012 Edition – registers as a spectacular own goal. The Fraser Institute believes – and argues in this study – that strong unions, high minimum wages and high levels of public sector employment undermine
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Economic Crisis: Notes from the Underground
Tom Palley has published a new book – The Economic Crisis: Notes from the Underground. I recommend it unread, having learned a lot from his excellent recent book, From Financial Crisis to Stagnation. The back cover description follows. The book can be ordered – for just $9.99 – from http://www.amazon.com/The-Economic-Crisis-Notes-Underground/dp/147500480X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1344344088&sr=8-3&keywords=Thomas+Palley
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Canada’s Economic Problem is NOT High Wages
Bill Curry reports in today’s Globe that, at last year’s economic policy retreat, business leaders urged Finance Minister Flaherty to reduce the pay of “overpriced” Canadian workers, including through anti union right to work legislation. Coincidentally, or not, the subsequent 2012 federal Budget introduced new rules which will require most
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Labour Law and Jobs: A Tale of Two Provinces
Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak claims that union busting right to work laws would create jobs in hard hit industrial Ontario. I have already noted that there is no evidence that Right to Work states in the US do better than other US states in terms of attracting and retaining
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: “Right to Work” Laws and Jobs
Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak claims that passage of an anti union “right to work” (RTW) law (making mandatory union dues illegal) would create jobs, especially in hard-hit manufacturing. With companies like Caterpillar moving to get ever cheaper labour, it seems semi plausible that anti union laws might attract footloose
Continue reading