Miscellaneous material for your weekend reading. – David Jones writes about the important benefits enjoyed by workers as the result of the efforts of the labour movement. And Arindrajit Dube studies the international effects of minimum wage increases, finding that they consistently improve lower-end wages while having little effect on
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Accidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Luke Savage responds to the attempt by neoliberals to escape growing discontent with corporate control and individual atomization by denying they actually represent a distinct position capable of being opposed: The ubiquity of a particular phenomenon does not make discrete analysis of it
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about the 2019-20 Alberta budget
I’ve just written a ‘top 10’ overview of the recent Alberta budget. Points raised in the post include the following: -The budget lays out a four-year strategy of spending cuts, letting population growth and inflation do much of the heavy lifting. -After one accounts for both population growth and inflation,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Edgardo Sepulveda writes about Chile’s popular revolt against austerity and inequality – while at the same time pointing out how Canada is foregoing the revenue needed to provide for people’s basic needs. – Nicole Aschoff discusses a few trends highlighted by actors
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: The Truth About the Kanata Lakes Golf Course Development Proposal
Many of you probably see the opposition to replacing the Kanata Lakes golf course with housing as just a NIMBY response of a bunch of privileged entitled suburbanites living in their low density paradise. After all golf courses are not usually considered environmentally friendly and there is a real need
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about poverty measurement in Canada
I’ve written a blog post providing an overview of poverty measurement in Canada. Points raised in the post include the following: -One’s choice of poverty measure has a major impact on whether poverty is seen to be increasing or decreasing over time. -Canada’s federal government recently chose the make the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Vrishti Beniwal writes about Abhijit Banerjee’s call to put concentrated wealth to better social use by taxing it. – Yutaka Dirks interviews Linda McQuaig about the corporate takeover of far more public wealth than is normally recognized. And Matt Coughlin discusses how
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Andrew Jackson calls out the Cons for their platform of taking from the many to further enrich the most privileged few. David Macdonald studies what the unspecified cuts promised by the Cons could mean in terms of losses to public services. And
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ending homelessness in St. John’s: Ten things to know
I’m co-author of a recent blog post about the fight to end homelessness in St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador). Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Recent increases in federal funding for homelessness have made a very important difference to St. John’s homeless-serving sector. I’m referring here to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Joao Medeiros writes about Mariana Mazzucato’s push to have governments use collective wealth and power for the common good. – Matt Elliott wonders why the Libs and Cons have nothing meaningful to say about housing or transit in an election where those
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Linda McQuaig writes about the myth that we have no choice but to pursue privatization – and notes that electric vehicle production represents an ideal opportunity to build public economic capacity: Is it feasible to save the once-vibrant Oshawa complex and transform it
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The use of homeless shelters by Indigenous peoples in Canada
I’ve written a blog post about the use of homeless shelters by Indigenous peoples in Canada. The post is inspired by recently-accessed, internal analysis done by staff at Employment and Social Development Canada. One point raised in the blog post is that there is no clear indication from the presentation
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Tom Rand and Mike Andrade point out that the Alberta tar sands wouldn’t be sustainable economically even if people ignored their environmental effects. Bruce Livesey offers a reminder that Andrew Scheer’s plans are built entirely around favouring dirty oil at the expense
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – George Monbiot argues that it’s time to cap the amount of wealth any person can accumulate, while highlighting the importance of accepting that there’s a point where we have enough. – Donovan Vincent writes about the rental housing crisis in Toronto, while
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Trudeau’s proposed speculation tax
I’ve written a blog post about the Trudeau Liberals’ recently-proposed speculation tax on residential real estate owned by non-resident, non-Canadians. The full blog post can be accessed here.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Franklin Foer writes that young climate activists are right to be anxious about the future that’s being imposed on them – and that it’s long past time for earlier generations to stop being comfortable with leaving wreckage in our wake. – Bill
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Evening Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Grace Blakeley discusses how the financialization of the economy has enriched a few at the expense of everybody else. And Blakeley and Harry Quilter-Pinner point out how social care in particular is suffering for having been turned into a profit centre. – David
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Evening Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Martin Regg Cohn writes that Doug Ford’s brutal austerity against the people who most need social support has been based on entirely made-up numbers. And David Climenhaga points out that Alberta’s civil service has been shrinking over the past decade, showing that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – The L.A. Times’ editorial board comments on the need for everybody to pitch in toward a just transition which preserves a habitable planet – including by moving away from reliance on fossil fuels. But Natalie Hanman interviews Naomi Klein about what instead looks
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett and Wanda Wyporska neatly summarize the insidious social effects of inequality: (I)nequality is socially divisive, making status more important and strengthening the view that some people are worth more than others. As we judge each other more by status,
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