Discussion of the minimum wage can easily slide into a technocratic back-and-forth that ignores the vital political aspect at play. We can see this in much of the response to the report just released by the Ontario government’s Minimum Wage Advisory Panel (MWAP). Andrew Coyne, for example, once again argues
Continue readingAuthor: Michal Rozworski
Canadian Dimension | Articles: Ideology and Central Banking in the Crisis
‘Privatizing gains and socializing losses’ could be the motto for the neoliberal era. Alongside this and ‘there is no alternative,’ few slogans better capture the ideology that has been so successfully diffused throughout the world over the past several decades. Five years after latest financial crisis, this motto rings true
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: There is no good value
A piece in the Financial Times from several days ago has finally pushed me to scribble down a few initial thoughts on value – a topic I been thinking about more and more. Titled “The attack of the rentier killers”, the article argues that the wealthy who hold and receive
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The more things change… Amazon’s “anticipatory shipping” and the village square
Media outlets recently publicized Amazon’s patent for what it calls “anticipatory shipping.” The premise is as simple as it is creepy: Amazon will charge and ship items before customers have the chance to buy them themselves. In other words, Amazon knows what you want and is happy to spare you
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Problematic sources of recent real wage growth
The past 18 months have seen real wages increase in Canada. (Yes, I double-checked.) Indeed, real wages have gone through two distinct phases of growth since the financial crisis hit the global economy in 2007. This may be surprising as we have been accustomed to hearing about the stagnation of
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Economic history in the present: Potlatch and tax
This post inaugurates an occasional series I’m calling, “Economic history in the present”. This series will look at vignettes from global economic history with an eye to current phenomena or particular events. Some will be more speculative, drawing on anthropology and philosophy; some will be more rigorous. Hopefully, both aspects
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: QE: Furthering the habit of privatizing gains and socializing losses
“Privatizing gains and socializing losses” could be the motto for the neoliberal era. Alongside this and “there is no alternative”, few slogans better capture the ideology that has been so successfully diffused throughout the world over the past several decades. Five years after latest financial crisis, this motto rings true
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Myths of central banking
The Bank of Canada has been in the news lately – or, more precisely, the news has been full of other well-placed people telling our central bankers what to do. In an interview on CTV this past weekend, Jim Flaherty made comments (later retracted) that Canada’s central bank will be
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Transformations in profit and possibilities of resistance: A reply to Sam Gindin
Several weeks ago, I published a series of blog posts on profitability and investment in Canada since the financial crisis of 2007-8. These were republished as a single long article on Socialist Project and given the title, “Canada’s Profitability and Stagnation Puzzle”. Since them, Sam Gindin has published a reply
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Solving Christmas conundrums with New Year’s resolutions
I know I promised to not post until the New Year. Clearly the holidays have gotten the better of me. This, however, will be a short reflection and at once a New Year’s resolution. Christmas is a time of large get-togethers for my family and this year was no different.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Precarious workers or satisfied customers? A fine line for giant retailers
The stresses and difficulties faced by Walmart workers during the holidays is overwhelming. Overwork, a climate of fear and barely-organized chaos make for taxing shifts at work. Low wages, insufficient hours and inadequate benefits stretch budgets and make it harder to find holiday joy at home. A Walmart Christmas could
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: See you in the New Year
After a frenzy of posting to kick off this blog, I’ll be taking a bit of time off from now until the New Year. All the best to you and yours in the meantime; may whatever god(s) you believe in bring joy and light during these darkest nights. I’ll be
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Precarious workers or satisfied customers: a fine line for giant retailers
This post is an appendix of sorts to my article, “Fired by Walmart for Christmas”, to be published this weekend by Common Dreams. In the article, I describe the stresses and difficulties faced by Walmart workers during the holidays. Overwork, a climate of fear and barely-organized chaos make for taxing
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: The in-and-out trick: Thoughts on Canada Post, CPP and your child’s breakfast
The past few days have not been great for public services in Canada. Canada Post will be phasing out home delivery of mail. Expansion of the Canada Pension Plan was scuttled at the finance ministers’ meeting. In the grand scheme of things, however, these are not extreme cutbacks. It’s not
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Demand or destruction? Two ways out of the profitability puzzle
In my previous post, I outlined the disconnect between profitability and investment in Canada’s private sector. While businesses are doing well and profits have rebounded quickly after the global financial crisis of 2007, investment has continued its slow and steady 20-year decline. This decline is especially visible when investment is
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Legislating a real raise: Minimum wages and real earnings growth
In a recent post titled, “What happened to the distribution of real earnings during the recession?”, Stephen Gordon presents a graphs that shows some significant growth in real (adjust for inflation) earnings in Canada between 2007 and 2012. In addition, plotting average annual growth rates in real earnings against the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Notes on pensions and risk
Canada’s finance ministers are meeting this weekend and a proposal to expand the CPP is at the top of the agenda. If implemented, this proposal would bolster an important public program at a time when public programs are under attack and the public sector as whole is shrinking. There are many good arguments in
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Canada’s profitability puzzle
Most developed economies continue to experience fall-out from the financial crisis of 2007-8. The Eurozone has been most ravaged, but the US and UK have not fared much better. After the initial rebound from the most severe crisis, growth in many economies has been decelerating to the point that some
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Austerity and the profitability puzzle: government gives profits a helping hand
This is the third and final post in what has become a three-part series on the puzzle of high profitability and low investment in the Canadian economy. In the first part, I looked at some data that shows the existence of the puzzle and explored a few of the factors
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: A Canadian housing bubble? Evidence from capital inflows
Warning: A wonky, but thankfully short, post follows. Yesterday, the Naked Capitalism blog reposted some recent research by OECD economist Eduardo Olaberria that looks at the effect of capital inflows on bubbles in assets, particularly housing. With so many other signs of a housing bubble forming in Canada, I decided
Continue reading