Cap Executive Pay for a More Productive Company
John Driscoll is the CEO of a health care company and he sees value in paying people what they’re worth. A few years ago he turned around a company from…
Equality
A High Minimum Wage is Good for Everybody
Raising the minimum wage helps you no matter how much you earn. The next time the debate about whether or not your region of the world should raise wages you…
May Day: When Rules Don’t Apply
Unions have got a bad reputation in North America for reasons I don’t understand. Counterintuitively, large corporations have convinced millions of workers that their jobs are negatively impacted by workers…
Monbiot Sees Mankind in a Fight for Life with Capitalism
You might not like his ideas but they’re well worth airing. Guardian enviro-scribe, George Monbiot, writes that it’s time to ditch capitalism before it puts us in the grave. Capitalism’s…
How Millennials can Recover from Boomer Economics
We’ve all heard the refrain that millenials are lazy because they can’t afford to live and that they spend all their money on avocado toast (instead of something useful like…
Fight Inequality by Taxing Corporations
Unless you earn more then $200,000 a year corporate tax cuts likely make your life worse. Even though it’s a myth, it’s long been argued that by cutting taxes for…
Let’s Rethink Punishment
When someone breaks the law or acts out in a transgressive manner we often turn to punishment to correct their behaviour. We do this in families and as a society,…
Planning for a Zero-Growth Economy
The economy is sometimes referred to as an entity outside of human control – it isn’t. We control the economy through policies and practices in each nation. The last half…
California Launches Improved Reverse Income Tax Scheme
California’s welfare system (EITC) includes subsidies sent annually for people living without income and that’s about to change. Under new rules the money given to people who earn less than…
Time for a Tobin Tax on Financial Transactions
High frequency trading increases volatility in stock markets and mean that only those with access to high-powered computers can compete. This is not good for long-term thinking and means that…
Creative Ways to Communicate Mobility in Cities
Navigating cities can be a challenge for anybody with mobility issues due to a lack of infrastructure and poor communication. Decades of efforts to improve urban design have made a…
Rent Strikes Gaining Popularity
Last year a community in Toronto launched a rent strike and won! This initiative to ensure affordable housing (and not being verbally abused by landowners) worked for the involved residents;…
Even More Evidence Minimum Wage Increases are Good
The Ontario government recently decided to ensure inequality continues to grow by not raising minimum wage, which is obviously a bad thing. The rationale by the anti-worker Conservative party was…
These CEOs Want Basic Income
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was elected earlier this year and already started implementing his plan to increase inequality in the province. Obviously, this is a bad a plan. One of…
Low Income Housing Doesn’t Negatively Impact High Income Housing
The graph above shows that the introduction of low income housing into a neighbourhood does not negatively impact the value of other homes. Real estate agents perpetuate a myth that…
In Singapore Housing Crises are a Thing of the Past
Singapore lacks land and this causes interesting land use problems. In the city state they ran into issues around housing their citizens ranging from land to cost. Instead of letting…
Unions Help Every Worker Earn More
Unions have a bad reputation thanks to years of corporate lobbying and companies blaming workers for executive-induced problems. Despite the negative view of unions they have helped all workers get…
Unemployment Down; Minimum Wage Increases
Paying workers a reasonable amount of money works out well fro economies. Raising minimum wage is happening in a few jurisdictions throughout North America and the results are coming in…
How Good Policy Alongside Good Design Improves Lives
Tishaura Jones, the first female treasurer of St. Louis, set out to improve her city through good design. Through her own struggles dealing with the city’s bureaucracy she identified many…
Economists: Improve the Economy by Empowering Workers
Attacks on unions isn’t anything new, even when workers are asking for safer conditions or a little job security. What is new is that economists are starting to realize that…