Origins of the New Canadian Political Economy
Abridged Text of Remarks to Panel on Canadian Political Economy in Commemoration of Abraham Rotstein and Stephen Clarkson, Department of Political Science, September 16 2016 Let us cast our minds…
Mel Watkins
W. A. Mackintosh: Great Canadian Economist of the 20th Century
There were two great Canadian economists of the last century: H.A. Innis and W.A. Mackintosh. Innis had been much written about but not Mackintosh. This is now corrected by a…
It is time to confront Canada’s staple trap
Canadian postcard, 1907 Forbidden to text while driving, you can waste your time checking the fluctuating price of gas at every gas station you see and how at each station…
Impact of Fur Trade in U.S.
The fur trade in Canada is often said to have been less malign than in the US, and it was, but that doesn’t say much given the extraordinary disruption it…
Call for Research
“The interpretation of the history of North America in terms of rum and brandy has not been written, but in the fur trade, rum represented the contribution of the West…
Kari Levitt Honoured
Kari Polanyi Levitt, one of own, has been given the Order of Canada. Congratulations to Kari. Richly deserved.
Not Trickledown But Gush-Up
“Trickledown hadn’t worked. But Gush-Up certainly has. That’s why in a nation of 1.2 billion, India’s one hundred richest people own assets equivalent to one fourth of the GDP.” That’s…
From pulp and paper to magazines to progessive politics
Harold Innis wrote the history of Canada around its succession of staple exports, first to Europe and then to the US. He then wrote the history of empires and civilizations…
Mel Clark 1921-2014
Mel Clark, a long time trade negotiator for Canada, passed away on March 14. His Notice of Death in the April 24 Globe and Mail describes him as “an independent…
Fur trade and tar sands
Here is Joseph Boyden talking with the Globe and Mail last fall about his novel Orenda: “You look at this novel and you think immigration, who you allow in and…
In Praise of our Distinguished Predecessor
J. King Gordon (b.1900, d.1989) was not a professional economist, though as a Rhodes Scholar he studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford while inhaling the Fabianism in the air.…
Oil as a Staple
“By 1901, Baku produced half the world’s oil…Baku was a melting pot of pitiful poverty and incredible wealth…he derricks and the refineries poisoned the city and corrupted the people…il townships…
Surely lighthouses are simply a good thing?
“From a conventional view of progress, there were few projects more useful and less problematic than building lighthhouses to save life and cargo. From the shore, however, this was not…
Staples Redux: Wheat and Canola
Acceptance or rejection of genetically modified food has tended to be analyzed with respect to the attitudes of consumers. But the attitudes of producers matter. For example, western grain farmers…
Staples Redux: Oil and Honey
Oil is a staple. Honey isn’t. That’s the point. The odd coupling comes from Bill McKibben’s most recent book, which is titled “Oil and Honey.” Oil is crude. Honey is…
Kari Polanyi-Levitt’s New Book
The much respected progressive economist, and my long time friend and intellectual soulmade, Kari Polanyi Levitt, having just turned 90, has published a book of no less than 16 scholarly…
Wordly Philosopher
This is the title of a recently published biography of Albert Hirschmam by Jeremy Adelman, a Canadian who teaches history at Princeton University. Hirschman’s life as an economist – which…
Re-reading Hirschman
Since I was a graduate student in the last millennium, I’ve been fascinated by the role of the cotton textile industry in recent economic history, beginning with that momentous event…
Re-reading Hirschman
Since I was a graduate student in the last millennium, I’ve been fascinated by the role of the cotton textile industry in recent economic history, beginning with that momentous event…
From Corporation to Crisis
The authors tell us this book has been “a long time in the making.” It has been well worth the wait. The dust jacket bears endorsements, fulsome even by the…