This piece was originally published at the Globe and Mail’s online Report on Business feature, EconomyLab. There are two reasons why it is difficult to comment on the legacy of a finance minister. 1) It is a tremendously challenging job, anywhere, any time. Stewarding one of the largest economies
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Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Bruce Livesey discusses Tony Blair’s role in corporatizing social democracy. And Stephen Elliott-Buckley writes that there’s little reason to listen to the policy prescriptions of a financial elite class which is conspicuously ensuring that its future bears no resemblance to that of
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape – NYTimes.com
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape – NYTimes.com. CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — At 7 in the morning, they are already lined up — poultry plant workers, housekeepers, discount store clerks — to ask for help paying their heating bills or feeding their families. And once Metropolitan Ministries opens at
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Britain’s five richest families worth more than poorest 20% | Business | The Guardian
Britain’s five richest families worth more than poorest 20% | Business | The Guardian. The scale of Britain’s growing inequality is revealed by a report from a leading charity showing that the country’s five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20% of the population. Oxfam urged the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Spain’s poor affected the most among OECD nations in financial downturn | World news | theguardian.com
Spain’s poor affected the most among OECD nations in financial downturn | World news | theguardian.com. Spain‘s poorest have been hit harder than any other group in any OECD country in the years of financial crisis and downturn, according to the OECD. While the wealthiest 10% of Spaniards saw their
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Jackson writes that increases in Canadian inequality have been the result of deliberate policy choices: In an important recent book, Inequality and the Fading of Redistributive Politics, Keith Banting and John Myles argue that, while rooted in the market, politics has
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Nafeez Ahmed writes about the dangers of combining growing inequality and increased resource extraction: By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: IMF Urges Redistribution To Tackle Growing Inequality
As usual, on the rare occasion that the IMF actually understands the destructive nature of austerity policies, it is too little too late. IMF Urges Redistribution To Tackle Growing Inequality. Washington – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is wading strongly into the global debate over the impact of growing income inequality,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Eduardo Porter writes about the rise of inequality in the U.S., while Tracy McVeigh reports on the eleven-figure annual cost of inequality in the UK. And Shamus Khan discusses the connection between inequality and poverty – as well as the policy which
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Paul Krugman points out how the U.S.’ corporate elites are agitating to make sure that any economic recovery helps only those at the top, rather than reaching most workers in the form of wage increases: Suddenly, it seems as if all the serious
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – The American Prospect writes about Thomas Piketty’s work on inequality – and how we’re just scratching the surface of the policy implications of a new gilded age: Piketty is rightly pessimistic about an immediate response. The influence of the wealthy on democratic politics
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Matthew O’Brien is the latest to pick up on the connection between pre-transfer income equality, redistribution and sustainable economic growth: Redistribution overall helps, and at least doesn’t harm, growth spells. That’s because the positive effects of less inequality add to or offset the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Michael Hiltzik writes about the efforts of the corporate sector – including the tobacco and food industries – to produce mass ignorance in order to preserve profits: Proctor, a professor of the history of science at Stanford, is one of the world’s leading
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jim Stanford writes that union-bashing has proven to be political poison for many of the parties who have tried to distract from increasing inequality with attacks on workers: (T)he biggest problem for Mr. Hudak’s crusade was a deeper sentiment in Canadian public opinion
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: IWD 2014: The “girl effect” reduces inequality, but Canada can’t coast on that much longer
Every year when International Women’s Day rolls by, I can’t help but reflect on power, how it’s shared, and how women use the power they have. This year, I am struck by women’s power to reduce inequality, and not just to help ourselves. Women are key to reducing income inequality.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Following up on yesterday’s column, David Atkins discusses his own preference for front-end fixes to poverty and inequality: The standard way you’ll hear most progressives address inequality issues is to allow the labor market to run as usual, but levy heavy taxes on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, featuring my take on the IMF’s recent report (PDF) on the relationship between equality, redistribution and growth. I’ve already linked to other responses to the report from the Guardian and the Economist. But the column raises a point left largely unaddressed in those pieces – and which seems particularly
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Brian and Karen Foster question why steadily improving productivity has led to increasing stratification rather than better lives for a large number of people: (W)ith all the optimism, why hasn’t technological progress actually opened up a world where we all work, and we
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Toronto Needs Progressive Property Taxation
In November, the TTC board decided to raise fares for 2014 by approximately $60/year for people who buy metropasses every month. Many have already noted that this amount is the same as the $60 VRT that Mayor Ford and Council repealed early in thi…
Continue readingAutonomy For All: Toronto Needs Progressive Property Taxation
In November, the TTC board decided to raise fares for 2014 by approximately $60/year for people who buy metropasses every month. Many have already noted that this amount is the same as the $60 VRT that Mayor Ford and Council repealed early in this term. Quite plausibly, this is a
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