Reason.tv has produced a great short video (7:33) discussing the impact of Walmart stores in American communities, as well as the sources of opposition to the development of new stores.
Ben Eisen
Beware of Politicians Bearing “Green” Gifts: Governments can’t plan and spend their way to green prosperity
Many activists and politicians promise to improve economic performance through government spending on “green job” creation. Economic theory and empirical evidence from Europe both suggest that such efforts are unlikely to strengthen the economy.
FCPP Green Jobs Study Covered in National Post
This week, the Frontier Centre released a new study showing that European experiments with centrally planned "green job" creation schemes have generally failed to produce positive outcomes. Instead of creating jobs and generating economic growth, "green jobs"...
The Environmentalists Need to Stop Crying Wolf
A study released this week concludes that government “green-job” programs aren’t the yellow-brick road to happiness in Europe.
Featured News
Timeless Wisdom – The Politics of Successful Structural Reform
It’s a well-known pattern in public policy – profligate politicians damaging their economies with out-of-control spending, massive borrowing and higher taxes – inevitably leading to fiscal crisis, sharp declines in growth and ultimately rapidly falling currency value...
Canada’s National Hysteria in the 21st Century
Mass hysteria is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behaviour by many people. There are numerous historical examples: Middle Age nuns at a convent in France spontaneously began to meow like cats; at another convent, nuns began biting one another. In...
To Reduce Health Wait Times, Follow the European Model: Top European countries provide universal, world-class care- without the long waits
Addressing Canada’s long healthcare wait times requires major reforms and an end to monopolistic government control over insurance and healthcare provision.
Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index 2010
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy releases the 3rd annual Euro-Canada Health Consumer Index. Canada lags behind in 25th place and far behind consumer and competition friendly Holland.
Busybody Eurocrats and the new “Right” to Vacation: The EU’s wasteful plan to subsidize tourism ignores individual preferences
The EU recently announced a program to subsidize vacations for the old, the young and people with low incomes. This wasteful nanny-state policy uses taxes and manipulative subsidies to encourage people to spend their recreation dollars on tourism instead of other things they might like more.
Equalization Is Indeed a Problem: Our recent critics are wrong
The critics of equalization reform keep getting it wrong: Fact is, federal transfers prop up bad provincial policy.
How The Great Recession Concentrated Public Minds: Wage Freezes in New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba Will Help Balance the Books
Recently announced wage freezes for government employees in New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba will help address the long-term problem of rapid pay escalation in the public sector.
Change Prices, Not Attitudes, to Conserve Water: Market Pricing is the Key to Efficient, Sustainable Water Use
By eliminating water subsidies and eliminating flat rate pricing for water, we can do more to promote conservation than millions of dollars worth of public education campaigns.
Canada V. Europe on Health Care Wait Times: Canada Compares Badly: Canadians wait longer for care than most European Patients
Despite high levels of healthcare spending, wait times for health services in Canada are much longer than they are in most of Europe. FC059
Freezing Government Wages is Prudent Cost-Control: Public Sector Wage Growth is Not Smart Economic Stimulus
Manitoba’s decision to freeze wage growth for its highly paid public sector employees will help ensure the province’s fiscal health, and arguments that the policy will hurt the economy are based on weak economic arguments.
Canada’s Cropland: Becoming Better Protected From Erosion: Canada’s soil is far healthier today than it was 20 years ago
Over the past 30 years, the percentage of Canada’s agricultural soil that is well-protected from soil erosion has steadily increased. FC056