In November 2018, Canada and Mercosur opened negotiations for a free trade agreement. The Mercosur, composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay (Venezuela is a suspended member from 2016), represents a bloc representing a GDP of over $3 trillion and a...
The economic consequences of COVID-19 and the shutdown of the economy are difficult to evaluate. But some of them have begun to appear and risk hindering recovery. Inflation is one of these harmful consequences. In the USA, consumer prices jumped 4.2 per cent in the...
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, the only thing keeping Air Canada alive is the federal-government bailouts. They are delaying the inevitable and sensible way out: cutting travel restrictions, encouraging tourism by ensuring effective containment and...
It is not entirely clear whether the Canadian and the global economies are heading for a new inflationary era. It may turn out that inflation is not only elevated from recent negligible levels, but escalates, steadily at first, and then dramatically, as it did in the...
For standards of living to grow, productivity growth must be strong and continually renewed. That is one notion that nearly all economists can agree on. So, it is not surprising that politicians scramble to discover new or not-so-new ways to boost productivity growth....
Behavioural psychologist Robert Epstein believes Google can and does influence voters and that research teams in Canada and elsewhere need to monitor how users are being swayed. Epstein, the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today and founder of the American...
The standard of living of Canada’s population is not growing as quickly as per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The reason for that is our dollar has been declining in relative terms against the currency of our biggest trading partner, the United States. While...
Good politics, bad economics. This was the verdict among Canada's most economic literate think tanks on the conservative's platform plank on the trimming of the Goods & Service tax, by two points. For various reasons, these institutions appeared more favorably...
Canada's edge as a locale for foreign investment is slipping fast, but there is a way to turn the ship around without lowering tax rates. Rather, the nation can curb capital flight by lowering the cost of tax compliance. As recently as 2010-2015, Canada bettered the...
In what seems to be a never-ending, always-escalating war against Canada to make Ottawa return The Most Valuable Woman In The World, Meng Wanzhou, CFO and heiress to the mammoth and Sino-idolized Huawei Corporation, Beijing has made yet another dubious charge, that...
Central bankers increasingly sense their obsolescence, and rightly so. The more people turn to private currencies and conduct transactions without intermediaries, the less bureaucrats control the economy. In February 2019, a 33-page Bank of Canada "Crypto Money"...
The holidays are a time when many of us count our blessings, and think of society’s least fortunate. While there are many things that can be done to help those in need, some policies designed to do so backfire. Rent control is one of them. Surveys of economists...
The decision to turf laws that ensure taxpayer protection and balanced budgets most often come back to haunt the politicians you make such decisions. Properly designed, such legislation can serve as a fiscal constitution that delivers superior long-term policy and...
The first free-trade agreement between China and Canada appears all but dead, derailed by a diplomatic dispute. Insofar as gains from trade are not realized, Canadian consumers and entrepreneurs will suffer. Despite the gravity of Beijing’s many wrongdoings, trade...