Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen investigate the claim often made in Canada that low tuition fees lead to higher rates of university participation. The authors find that there is no positive correlation between low tuition fees and higher rates of university participation, either overall or in the specific case of young adults from low-income families.
Ben Eisen
High Rates of Public Sector Employment Are Costly For Manitoba Taxpayers: Over time, Manitoba’s relatively large public sector can be significantly reduced without resorting to drastic cuts
Although public sector employment in Manitoba is high by Canadian standards, it can gradually be brought closer into line with the national average without resorting to any drastic and sudden cuts in either government employment or spending.
Balancing Act: Gradually Reducing The Size and Cost of Manitoba’s Public Sector
Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen examine the cost of Manitoba’s relatively large public sector. By taking into account projected population growth, they argue that Manitoba can significantly reduce the size of its public sector in the medium-term without resorting to drastic cuts, by either freezing or making small, gradual reductions to government employment over the next decade.
Government Employment Reductions in the 1990s
Austerity isn’t easy, and when Canada had to slash its deficits in the 1990s it looks like part of what that meant was a real reduction in the number of people employed by government across the country.
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The Man who Saved the Plains Indians
At the time of Confederation, Canada’s Plains Indians were in a desperate situation. The same European-introduced guns and horses that resulted in a briefly glorious golden age for them had also resulted in constant inter-tribal warfare and the rapid disappearance of...
Renewed Talk of Abolishing the Indian Act
Political attacks on the Indian Act are back in the news, and that is a good thing. However, Canadian politicians, including First Nation politicians, need a credible plan about what to do before we pull out the champagne. Attacking the Indian Act is not a big deal...
Mandatory Fast Food Nutrition Labels and Obesity
Of course, there is not always a cost-effective policy response available for every social problem. Sometimes, what policy types call the “static response” (doing nothing) is the best thing for governments to do even when a serious problem exists.
Taxing Height?
Let’s not. However, this is an awfully entertaining tongue-in-cheek critique of utilitarian approaches to optimal taxation levels and income distribution.
Hugh Segal, Guaranteed Incomes and Trade-offs
I’m still not 100% on board with Segal’s policy proposal, but he is right in arguing that our current approach to fighting poverty does not seem to be working as well as most of us would like.
Terrific NYT Piece on The “Green Economy”
It hints at why subsidies for “green industries” are so attractive to politicians and to the public and why the potential for these industries to create scads of good jobs for unskilled workers in countries like Canada and the United States is probably limited in the long-term.
The CCPA Fells A Straw man
The debate over what, if anything, we should do about growing income inequality in Canada is hugely important and we need to hear from all sides. But it’ll work better if we respond to what those with whom we have disagreements actually say instead of knocking over straw men.
Did the Clean Air Act Improve Air Quality in American Cities?
The improvement in air quality is a hugely positive development (of which many people are unaware). This data suggests, however, that those who attribute this progress in the United States to the Clean Air Act may well be mistaken.
Depressing Graphic for the Day
Policymakers need to keep asking themselves not only whether a priority is worth pursuing (poverty reduction is), but whether the strategies currently being employed are actually working.
Higher Taxes in Illinois and the Beauty of Federalism
Yesterday, the state of Illinois approved an increase in the state’s personal income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent. Corporate taxes are also set to increase. I’m not familiar enough with Illinois’ budgetary circumstances to say whether the tax increases are a good...
Cornucopians vs. Malthusians
David and I recently used this blog to discuss his excellent piece on the topic of ongoing environmental and economic progress. The debate between "Cornucopian" optimists and "Malthusian" pessimists has been going on for a very long time. This...