This and that for your Thursday reading. – The Guardian offers a few expert perspectives on how to fix the U.S.’ broken economic system. And Hassan Yussuff writes that the centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike should remind us of the importance and power of mass political action. – Randy
Continue readingTag: evidence-based policy
Accidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on Ryan Meili’s evidence-based policy – and particularly his thoughtful recognition of the issues where it’s better to seek out more expert advice than make promises in its absence. For further reading…– Again, Meili’s platform is here, and the sections on revenue and Crown corporations referred to in the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Stefan Stern writes that our current corporate culture needs to be changed in ways going far beyond reining in excessive executive compensation: Wage inequality is also a symbol of something more fundamentally wrong in the business world. Too many corporations are competing to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Asher Schechter examines new studies showing how massive markups are enriching corporations at the expense of workers: The two standard explanations for why labor’s share of output has fallen by 10 percent over the past 30 years are globalization (American workers are
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- Atrios offers a reminder as to how means-testing tends to make social programs more vulnerable to attack without making our overall tax system more progressive:We already means test through the tax cod…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – John Thornhill talks to Mariana Mazzucato about the importance of public investment in fostering economic growth – along with the need for the public to benefit as a result: As Mazzucato explains it, the traditional way of framing the debate about wealth
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – CBC follows up on the connection between childhood poverty and increased health-care costs later in life. And Sunny Freeman points out how the living wage planned by Rachel Notley’s NDP figures to benefit Alberta’s economy in general. – Meanwhile, William Gardner laments our
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Wray Herbert examines Lukasz Walasek and Gordon Brown’s work on the psychological links between inequality, status-seeking and reduced well-being. And Linda McQuaig writes about the harm increasing inequality has done to Canada both economically and socially: (The OECD’s recent) report puts actual
Continue readingAlberta Diary: What are Premier Jim Prentice and his three ‘agents of change’ planning for Alberta’s public service?
Alberta civil servants: do you get the feeling someone may have their eye on you? Below: Agents of change Richard Dicerni, Ian Brodie, Oryssia Lennie and Steve West. Premier Jim Prentice says he intends to “reform” Alberta’s public service, fix its low morale, reverse its “shocking” turnover and deal with
Continue readingEvidence for Democracy
Our current federal government’s aversion to facts is now, unfortunately, well-established as a fact itself. Examples are legion, but I will just mention one. Health Minister Rona Ambrose has assured Canadians that her government is a firm believer in science-based policy. Unfortunately, in a recent CBC interview she went about
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Robert Jay Lifton discusses the “stranded ethics” of a fossil fuel industry which is willing to severely damage our planet in order to protect market share: Can we continue to value, and thereby make use of, the very materials most deeply implicated in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Matthew Yglesias writes that while increased automation may not eliminate jobs altogether, it may go a long way toward making them more menial. And Jerry Dias recognizes that we won’t see better career opportunities emerge unless we make it a shared public
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Duncan Cameron writes that Stephen Harper’s CETA triumphalism may result in serious long-term damage to Canada for the sake of a temporary political reprieve: Promoting the big bamboozle means Harper is gambling with Canada’s economic future. The PM is touting a deal not
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your day. – Bloomberg reminds us of the nest egg Norway has built up by taking ownership of its own natural resources (and the consensus among conservative parties and business groups in favour of social spending is also worth highlighting). And Canadians for Tax Fairness point
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leading the evidence
Paul MacLeod’s post-mortem of Nova Scotia’s election campaign is well worth a read. But following up on Kevin Milligan’s astute point, I’ll point out how one of the main factors in the outcome looks to hint at partisan politics taking yet another turn for the worse – even as it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – There was never much doubt that the Cons’ demolition of Canada’s long-form census was intended to ensure that we lack data needed to develop evidence-based policies – and that the effects would be most significant among the most marginalized (or exclusive) groups. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Arthur Haberman argues that our universal public health care system helps contribute to a more democratic society: There is something that political philosophers — those like Tocqueville and Mill in the 19th century — have come to call living democratically. By this it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Thomas Walkom writes that yesterday’s minor tinkering aside, the goal of the Cons’ temporary foreign worker program is still to drive down Canadian wages. And Miles Corak argues that the resulting distortion of employment markets shouldn’t be any more acceptable to a libertarian
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Ellie Mae O’Hagan and Nicholas Shaxson annihilate the claim that perpetually lowering corporate and upper-income tax rates offers any competitive advantage: Tax “competition”, it turns out, is always harmful. First, while people rarely move in response to tax changes – flighty financial
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Slightly Aged Column Day
Here, on how Brad Wall’s willingness to see the long form census scrapped suggests that his government’s push toward mandatory annual standardized tests for all students can’t be explained by any real interest in evidence-based policy – and how the move looks to damage students’ education in substance rather than
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