One of the most widespread economic myths is that inflation—the reduced purchasing power of a currency—is a win for a nation, a sign of a booming economy. For the privileged classes in government and with initial access to monetary expansion, it is a win. For everyone...
Fergus Hodgson
What Must Be Done to Curb Canada’s Household Debt
Canada is struggling economically. From inflation and deficits to investment and employment, everything that should be up is down, and everything that should be down is up. One striking symptom of economic rot is household debt, which is rising faster than incomes....
What Life Looks Like Outside COVID-19 Hysteria
Travel and work over the past two years have brought me to many different jurisdictions. What continues to strike me is the way the responses to COVID-19 have been varied, arbitrary and often draconian. I look back at Canada and see raging debates over mask mandates,...
Global Minimum Tax Is Cartel Scam with Loopholes
Rhetoric is one thing; reality is another. As is becoming increasingly clear, the OECD’s July 1 proposal for a 15 per cent global minimum for corporate taxation is nothing of the sort. Although the awaited initiative slated for 2023 will not and cannot achieve a level...
Featured News
Canadian Property Rights Index 2023
A Snapshot of Property Rights Protection in Canada After 10 years
Alberta Politics and Empty Promises of Health-care Solutions
The writ has been dropped and Albertans are off to the polls on May 29. That leaves just four weeks for political leaders and voters to sort out what is arguably the most divisive, yet significant, issue for this election - health care. On Day 2, NDP leader Rachel...
Three Facts Minimum-Wage Loyalists Ignore
Minimum wages are on the rise again in Ontario. As of October 1, the province’s incessant central planners have not one but six higher price controls for labour. These hurt the most vulnerable Canadians and do the bidding of unions. However, vociferous proponents...
Raw-Milk Prohibition Reveals Policy Backwardness
Prohibitionists Dig In Heels for Supply Management, Ignore U.S. Success There is a legal way to consume raw milk in Canada: buy it in the United States and bring it home. Of the 13 states bordering Canada, 12 have legal raw milk. More than 40 have it legal in some...
Beijing’s Minions Don’t Belong on Canadian Stock Exchanges
The Chinese economy is growing and surpassing the U.S. economy in size. That stature, with its consequent soft and hard power, means opposition to the Communist Party of China (CPC) regime needs to be multilateral. No matter how much unipolarity the U.S. has enjoyed...
Let a Thousand Capital Markets Bloom
Alarm bells ought to be ringing in Canada. Business, industrial and foreign direct investment have performed pitifully over the past decade, with no reason to believe there will be a turnaround any time soon. As noted by Steven Globerman of Western Washington...
Why Cash Is Still King in Switzerland
When I audited an economics class in the Rice University School of Business, the lecturer compared inflation to slow-growing cancer and deflation to a heart attack. The implication was that deflation, which is the declining prices, is fatal and worse than inflation....
Higher Mortgage Hurdles Beat up on Working Class
There is no mystery in why Canada has seen a record-setting housing spike in the past year: negative real interest rates and monetary debasement from federal deficits. Rather than considering fiscal austerity and getting inflation under control, Ottawa has opted to...
How Traditional Finance Can Survive DeFi
Decentralized finance (DeFi) is here to stay and the time to jump on the bandwagon is now. By embracing blockchain and its related technologies, challenger banks are bringing the crypto revolution into traditional finance (TradFi) and preventing obsolescence. TradFi...
Bombardier Symbolizes Everything Wrong with Crony Economy
Despite decades of subsidies by Canadian taxpayers, Bombardier continues to be mired in a financial crisis jeopardizing its future. The latest humiliation came as the company had to sell its train-making division to pay off a substantial amount of debt due this year....
Impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s Economy
After months of COVID-19 restrictions causing a full economic shutdown of our country and others worldwide, what will be the result? Our guest today is Fergus Hodgson, Research Associate at Frontier Centre for Public Policy and Director of EconAmericas. WATCH FULL...