My latest musings for the Globe/ROB’s Economy Lab revolves around the context and significance of the year’s most important budget: Quebec’s. After years of failed attempts, the new Liberal government…
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The Tories are often rightly criticised for ignoring inconvenient expert advice and knowledge in pursuit of their political objectives. This is decried by the opposition as crass pandering to the…
The critics of judicial activism tend to focus on the Supreme Court (SCC) and its individual decisions. I think that’s a mistake. There are systemic forces at work undermining the…
We all know that uncertainty is the great enemy of prosperity, but people often forget why that’s true. Uncertainty’s great cost is that most forms of investment require years to…
As the Koch brothers and their friends publicly contemplate spending nearly $1bn in the 2016 US election cycle (about the cost of a major presidential campaign) to reward their political…
One of President Obama’s recent themes in his criticism of the Keystone XL pipeline is the dismissive comment that it will transport “Canadian oil”, as if that were obviously a…
Yes, there is something deeply unattractive about the scold who smugly wallows in others’ debacles because he warned that the worst might happen. On the other hand, sometimes the scold…
In my latest column for the Ottawa Citizen I celebrate the opening of Sir John A.’s 200th anniversary year with a paean to our principal founder and his vision for…
Canadians are so used to the economic action being in places like BC and Alberta (and once upon a time in Ontario!) that they have missed the dark horse coming…
Lost in the angst about income inequality is the fundamental point that the poor’s purchasing power is increasing all the time. Innovation is the chief explanation, as I lay out…