Posted earlier as an opinion piece for CBC. See original post here (this post slightly modified from original) By Louis-Philippe Rochon Follow him on Twitter @Lprochon Much was at stake earlier this week when finance ministers from G20 countries met in Istanbul to discuss Greece and the state of the world
Continue readingTag: growth
Conference Board illustrates folly of conventional economic metrics
Once again conventional measurement has painted a warped view of our economic well-being. Relying principally on growth in the GDP sense, The Conference Board of Canada applauds the oil and gas rich provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador—for being the country’s top economic performers. In the short term they are: highest
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: The Cult of Living Large
2015, we’re told, is the year the developed world (that’s us) and the emerging economies (China, India, etc., etc., etc.) will close ranks to formulate an effective plan of action to fight climate change. It’s going to be Kyoto on steroids, a true hallelujah moment, a meeting of minds, a
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 readingMolly'sBlog: CAN CHINA INNOVATE ?
CAN CHINA INNOVATE ? The immense weight of China dominates much economic prognostication these days. Will it overtake the USA and become the dominant power of this century ? What are its strengths and weaknesses ? In the Novembe…
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: CAN CHINA INNOVATE ?
CAN CHINA INNOVATE ? The immense weight of China dominates much economic prognostication these days. Will it overtake the USA and become the dominant power of this century ? What are its strengths and weaknesses ? In the November 18 edition of Time Magazine Michael Schuman looks at this question
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: CAN CHINA INNOVATE ?
CAN CHINA INNOVATE ? The immense weight of China dominates much economic prognostication these days. Will it overtake the USA and become the dominant power of this century ? What are its strengths and weaknesses ? In the November 18 edition of Time Magazine Michael Schuman looks at this question
Continue readingCalgary—sprawl or planning?
During the recent Calgary election campaign, two visions of the city’s future development vied for attention. One, presented by Calgary’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi, was about planning growth to ensure a sustainable city. The other, presented by a group of home builders and their hired gun, Preston Manning of the Manning
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: "When Wealth Disappears"
The chief economist of HSBC. Stephen D. King, says we’re in for a dose of reality – the best days are no longer ahead of us. Growth-driven prosperity, as most of us have known it our entire lives, has run its course. From the end of World War II
Continue readingThe need for a global no-growth agreement
Trade agreements are all the rage among nations these days. And that might not be a bad thing if they were principally about trade rather than about empowering corporations at the expense of workers and governments. In any case, what the world really needs is not global trade agreements but
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Living Within Our Skin
It’s a core tenet of our Western industrial/capitalist/democratic orthodoxy that something in the range of 3% annual economic growth is the benchmark of a healthy society. That’s 3% compounded growth. Now let’s take a span of 50-years, roughly one adult lifetime. Let’s say the economy stood at 100X at the
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: How A Bad Economy Is Not Harper’s Fault
Canada’s economy is set to grow less than the government thought, but it’s not our Prime Minister’s fault. True under Stephen Harper the World Bank has downgraded Canada from being the 4th most Business Friendly country in 2006 to 17th in 2013, but, as most Conservatives know, businesses have nothing
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Achieving a Steady State Economy for Canada
What if the way forward isn’t? What if it’s time for us to turn around, to go back? James Lovelock said the future of mankind, if there is to be one, will require that we accept, not sustainable growth, but sustainable retreat. We need to grow smaller. It’s not a
Continue readingBoreal Citizen: From the mouths of Muppets: Why climate solutions are “simply not done”
Last month, while reading and reviewing Too Much Magic, I came across a line in the latter half of the book that really stung: “Not even people who are preoccupied with climate change like to think about it anymore.” It hurts because it’s true. I’m tired, and disheartened by the
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ontario Demands Less Energy Despite Economic Growth
The only region in North America that expects a decrease in power consumption is Ontario and it’s all thanks to energy conservation initiatives. This is really great because it proves that energy efficiency policies can make a difference in how much energy is required to power a growing economy. What’s
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Conservative Canada Is Closer To Crisis
Referenced IMF data can be found here
Canada’s increasing Debt-to-GDP ratio is a problem no one is talking about. While the country’s gross government debt (which includes all levels of government) is large, it is rising faster than our …
The Scott Ross: The Conservative Economic Record
Sept 2012: Unemployment is up at 7.4%; it has been increasing since June while American unemployment has only gone down. July 2012: Worst trade deficit ever in Canadian history at $2.3 billion. 2012: GDP growth rate is declining (PDF pg 22). Canada is no longer the fastest growing economy in
Continue readingEurope’s shrinking economy—bad news or good?
Once again the news of a shrinking economy leaves me with mixed feelings. According to the CBC, the economy of the European Union shrank by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 after a flat first quarter. Surely this is bad news. The EU is heavily in debt
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: On Growth and Its Limits
George Monbiot offers a fascinating insight in the wake of last week’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro. While rightly deriding the declaration adopted by world leaders for containing little more than meaningless fluff, he notes an evolution in diplomatic language regarding the environment over
Continue readingAnti-austerity mood grows for better or worse
It seems only weeks ago that austerity opponents were crying in the wind. Their words were blowing away unheard. No more. The Greeks flatly rejected austerity in a recent election and attention had to be paid. France elected a new anti-austerity president, François Hollande, and now he has been welcomed
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