Flaherty’s Legacy: Ideological, reckless and just plain lucky
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…
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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.…
Ukraine needs help to overcome the Iron Law of Oligarchy
Daron Acemoglu’s articleon the Ukraine in today’s Globe & Mail is a must read for all who are concerned about the mammoth task facing Ukraine right now. Unlike so many…
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…
IMF: Tax the Rich to Improve the Economy
The International Monetary Fund has just completed a study that compiled data across time and space to conclude that taxation isn’t harmful for economies. Indeed, taxing the rich is actually…
Ukraine’s fascist ‘heroes’ and a bleak new dawn
Beneath: Banner of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera hangs in Kiev City Hall / Yulia Tymoshenko The forcible removal of Victor Yanukovych’s regime in what has been likened to a “fascist…
The IMF Wades In on Inequality
The hard Right have transitioned seamlessly from the fight to thwart action on climate change to their even more desperate rear guard effort to defend inequality from nasty, money-grubbing reformers.…
Magic numbers and the math stick
Economics is often associated with numbers. We are bombarded with economic data: GDP, unemployment, inflation, debt, exchange rates, market indices…the list is seemingly endless. While many of these numbers change…
Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Agence France-Presse reports that even the IMF has reached the conclusion that higher taxes on wealthy citizens are a necessary part of…
IMF Calls on Cameron Tories to Change Course
Britain’s Conservative Cameron government are the High Priests of bone-crushing austerity. David Cameron and his gaggle of privileged Saville Row suiters are not interested in sparing the lash when it…
The socialists at the International Monetary Fund…
DARE to say that the Harperland economy is WEAK! They DARE! Canada’s economic growth will be the slowest among Group of 20 countries outside Europe as it grapples with…
The Age of Austerity
Notes: Keynote talk, CCPA Post-Austerity session, Toronto, January 9, 2013 We are living in the “Age of Austerity” or at least so says David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister. He…
The Age of Austerity
Notes: Keynote talk, CCPA Post-Austerity session, Toronto, January 9, 2013 We are living in the “Age of Austerity” or at least so says David Cameron, the UK’s Prime Minister. He…
A Conservative Canada Is An Uncompetitive One
It’s odd that Conservatives advocate competition in the economy when under this Conservative government our economy has only become less competitive. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently lowered Canada’s…
Canadian National Debt Growing Faster Than GDP
Canada's debt is growing faster than our ability to pay for it. Since 2008 Canadian public debt has been growing faster than our GDP. Though there are many warning signs…
The Default Option
Here is an important op ed from the Irish Times by a former senior IMF official, arguing that the most heavily indebted euro countries will have to default on some…
Conservative Fiscal Deficits & Ignorant Surpluses
Though many would say that fiscal deficits from this Conservative government are the most worrying, their lack of economic knowledge is far more dangerous. Before showing the economic ignorance of…
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…
The Austerity Trap
Below is a recent editorial from the New York Times that does an excellent job of summarizing the failures of austerity policies. The NYTimes also published a very good analysis…
Iceland To The Rest of The World: There Are Alternatives
Hordur Torfarson, one of the architects of the quiet but powerful Icelandic revolution, which forced the government of Iceland to resign after the banking crisis of 2008, and kicked out…