Notes on a potential Telus-BCE merger
The big news story (Globe article here and political analysis here) of the day is the proposed merger between Telus and BCE (aka Bell), and what the government should do about it. Below are a few notes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Competition vs capitalism in Canada
An interesting story in The Tyee that picks up on evidence from the Conrad Black Trial (from a story in the Globe as blogged here), and runs with it. It is a telling insider story, one that nicely...
View ArticleCompetitiveness vs. Comparative Advantage
This post is in response to the following excellent comment from Stephen Moore, the man who will trounce Ralph Goodale in the next federal election (or at least do better than I did): April 2007...
View ArticleDion-omics: Corporate Tax Cuts and Deregulation
“Dion Would Wield Tax Axe to Spur Growth” was the headline in Tuesday’s Financial Post. The story reported that “Mr. Dion said his party would look to cut taxes across the board” but that “He would not...
View ArticleReport of the Competition Policy Review Panel
The report has been released: http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/cprp-gepmc.nsf/en/h_00040e.html This corporate dominated panel has put forward a set of highly pro business recommendations. Given the...
View ArticleCompetition Law vs Neoliberal Competition Policy
I wrote a paper for a volume on the OECD and competition policy last year, but the editors ultimately wanted less policy analysis and more on the inner workings of the OECD, so it got dropped. But a...
View ArticleIs Layton’s Tax Rate Competitive?
Stéphane Dion has branded Jack Layton an “old-style socialist” with a “job-killing” platform. The C. D. Howe Institute’s Finn Poschmann echoes this view, arguing that corporate tax cuts are needed to...
View ArticleTicket rage: a national solution
It is so nice to see the backlash against Ticketmaster’s monopolistic practices. Two class action suits have been filed in Canada over the past weeks, and south of the border anti-trust alarm bells are...
View ArticleThe Case Against Ticketmaster
Anti-trust lawyer David Balto, with the Center for American Progress, recently made the case against Ticketmaster’s proposed merger with LiveNation in testimony to the US Congress. The testimony also...
View ArticleCompetition in the Canadian telecom market
Perhaps by now you have seen the TV commercials for Bell touting its much faster 3G network for web phones. Rogers is suing on the basis that Bell is basically making this up. What’s interesting about...
View ArticleNew Research Money for the University of Alberta
An article in today’s Globe and Mail discusses some new research funding for the University of Alberta. In particular, the article notes: The U of A ranks second in total research funding, behind only...
View ArticleLaying pipe in Canada
It has been fascinating to watch the growing public reaction to the full-court press from Canada’s Big Pipe companies (aka, the telcos and cablecos) for usage-based billing (internet metering). The...
View ArticleOECD Corporate Tax Rates: Does Size Matter?
Advocates of corporate tax cuts like comparing Canada to an unweighted average of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members. Since the OECD keeps admitting more microscopic...
View ArticleMintz: Wrong Again on Corporate Taxes
Ten days ago, Jack Mintz released yet another paper claiming that international competitiveness requires continued corporate tax cuts. In addition to the usual questionable interpretations, it featured...
View ArticleThe Double Whammy of Defunding Universities
As I’ve blogged about here, federal funding for post-secondary education (PSE) in Canada is decreasing. Between 1985-1986 and 2007-2008, annual federal cash transfers to Ontario for PSE (in constant...
View ArticleCopyright on Campus
A recent article by George Monbiot in The Guardian takes a critical look at academic publishers, apparently with a focus on the United Kingdom. The article makes the following points: -Journals now eat...
View ArticleNew Generation of Thinkers Link Inequality, Innovation and Prosperity
(This guest blog was written by Mike Marin and Anouk Dey. It originally appeared in the Toronto Star on February 24. The authors are part of a team that produced the report Prospering Together (in...
View ArticleThe Rise of the Casino Economy
I was on a road trip recently, driving through the American south, and ended up coming face to face with the economics of gambling. The friend I was travelling with is a professional poker player,...
View ArticleCanada’s Self-Imposed Crisis in Post-Secondary Education
On June 7, I gave a keynote address to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees Education Sector Conference. My PowerPoint presentation (with full references) can be found at this link. Points I...
View ArticleCanada’s Economic Problem is NOT High Wages
Bill Curry reports in today’s Globe that, at last year’s economic policy retreat, business leaders urged Finance Minister Flaherty to reduce the pay of “overpriced” Canadian workers, including through...
View ArticleGlass-House Mortgages
A letter appears in today’s Globe and Mail in response to recent direction given by Minister Flaherty to private mortgage lenders over mortgage rates. The letter was written by Steve Pomeroy, one of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Blackberry mess and what Canada needs
Another year, another dead Canadian tech giant. Blackberry was sold yesterday for scrap to the Toronto private equity firm Fairfax. The purchase price of $4.7 billion is essentially valued at its...
View ArticleThe NSA Scandal is all about Economics
Back in 1998, I wrote a lengthy investigative feature for The Financial Post about Canada’s signals intelligence agency, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), and its post-Cold War role. You...
View ArticleRental Housing in Yellowknife
Yesterday I blogged about rental housing in Yellowknife, over at the Northern Public Affairs web site. Specifically, I blogged about a recent announcement by the city’s largest for-profit landlord...
View ArticleGrocery Wars: Lessons from Canada’s Changing Retail Landscape
As Target Canada tumbled into bankruptcy, Loblaw announced that its fourth-quarter profits more than doubled. What can be learned from this tale of two retailers? The main reason for Loblaw’s surge was...
View Article