A Dilemma for Saulish Skepticism: Either Self-Defeating or Not Even Skepticism

Jennifer Saul argues that the evidence from the literature on implicit biases entails a form of skepticism. In this paper, I argue that Saul faces a dilemma: her argument is either self-defeating, or it does not yield a skeptical conclusion. For Saul, both results are unacceptable; thus, her argument fails

Organic Farming and food quality chains in Europe

Out from the evolutions of the European agro food systems since the 80’ and besides Organic Farming, several other modes of production developed in parallel to the main stream system. This gave rise, during the last decades, to different research agendas and networks, which in general – and unfortunately - ignore each others. This paper intends to give some outlines to account for the diversity of those ap-proaches and give some path of convergence for the future. In the frame of the new European agricultural policy, those research networks could gain credibility and power through improving connections with each others and make their relations more intense

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

In this chapter, William Watson challenges Heath's interpretation of the benefits of productivity growth, but agrees with Richard Harris' views on the state of our knowledge about the potential contribution of social programs to productivity growth. Watson tackles Heath's assessment of the social benefits of productivity growth directly, starting with the issues of social inequality and poverty. He argues that there has been no flagging in redistributive effort in Canada and he challenges what he sees as Heath's preference for enhancing public expenditures, emphasizing the scope for government failures and of the possibility that higher tax rates in the contemporary period have increased the marginal cost of public funds. Even if one were able to resolve the question of the appropriate balance between the public and private sectors, Watson believes that the case for higher productivity would remain compelling. Without powerful analytical guidance, Watson concludes that reform of social policy will inevitably be guided primarily by intuition, politics and hunches. In these circumstances, he counsels modesty in aspirations.Equity, Efficiency, Productivity, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Growth, Income, Inequality, Equality, Social Policy, Happiness, Poverty, Leisure, Government, Investment, Fairness, Spending, Government Spending, Government Expenditure, Expenditure, Taxes, Tax, Quality of Life

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Pierre Fortin provides a critique of the conduct of Canadian monetary policy in the 1990s, a critique that he developed throughout the decade. While not denying that the US economic slowdown in the early 1990s reduced growth in Canada, Fortin lays the blame for the inferior economic performance of the Canadian economy relative to the U.S. economy squarely on the back of the Bank of Canada, and dismisses structural explanations of the recession as lacking an empirical basis.Monetary Policy, Inflation, Inflation Reduction, Inflation Policy, Growth, Recession, Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Unemployment, NAIRU, Phillips Curve, Canada

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Jim Stanford agrees that measures were needed to eliminate the deficit. But he argues that Paul Martin's program spending cuts were larger than necessary and caused real pain in many areas of Canadian life. He shows that a strategy in which program spending was frozen in nominal terms, but not cut, would have produced more growth and employment and still yielded almost the same deficit by 1999 (although slightly higher debt levels) as the program-cutting path actually followed.Deficit, Debt, Program Spending, Expenditure, Fiscal Policy, Growth, Unemployment, Deficit Reduction, Canada

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

In this chapter, William Scarth examines the relationship between population aging, productivity and growth in living standards and reaches a more optimistic conclusion about the effects of aging on productivity. Indeed, he finding that aging may in fact lead to increases in productivity, even if no policy initiative is taken. He argues that our economy possesses at least three adjustment mechanisms that insulate living standards from the adverse effects of an aging population.Aging, Ageing, Population Aging, Demography, Demographic Shift, Baby Boomers, Baby Boom, Dependence, Indebtedness, Debt, Investment, Productivity, Simulation, Growth, Consumption

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

In this chapter, Joseph Heath argues that we tend to overestimate the contribution that further productivity growth will make to the welfare of Canadians. Traditionally, productivity growth was thought to contribute to increased leisure time, greater consumer satisfaction, the elimination of poverty and greater public support for redistributive efforts to narrow social inequality. While accepting that such benefits have flowed in the past, Heath argues that in the last 25 years, productivity growth has contributed less and less to the well-being of Canadians. The key puzzle for Heath is why further economic growth does not lead to greater happiness. In attempting to solve this puzzle, he canvasses three currents of thought in the literature. One possible explanation is that increased consumption does not generate lasting increments in welfare because the process of satisfying our desires generates new desires. A second explanation, which Heath describes contends that consumption not only satisfies needs but also communicates status, class, upbringing and tastes. A third possible explanation draws on the work of Fred Hirsch, who argued that the supply of some goods such as waterfront property, which he labels positional goods, is fixed.Social Priority, Productivity, Social, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Growth, Free Lunch, Redistribution, Poverty, Consumption, Happiness, Competitive Consumption, Positional Goods, Externalities, Leisure, Welfare, Satisfaction, Living Standards, Quality of Life, Public Goods, Wants, Needs

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

In this chapter, Peter Dungan investigates the sensitivity of Canadian government fiscal balances to alternative long-run productivity growth rates using elements of the FOCUS macroeconometric model to conduct simulations on a 'base-case' projection of the Canadian economy, and of its fiscal detail, through the year 2030. The simulation strategy employed here in part parallels the technique used by the Department of Finance in recent budgets and fiscal statements to estimate the implicit size of the 'fiscal dividend'. A total of five alternative growth paths and sensitivity tests are presented. As Dungan points out changes in productivity growth rates can occur for a variety of reasons and can have many different possible effects on the economy. Therefore, these types of simulation exercises inevitably require a number of simplifying assumptions which must be taken into account in interpreting the results.Productivity, Fiscal Balances, Fiscal Policy, Revenues, Government Revenues, Taxes, Tax, Taxation, Social Programs, Social Spending, Social Policy, Expenditures, Government Expenditures, Government, Econometric Forecasting, Forecasting, FOCUS, Macroeconometric, Macro-econometric, Econometric Modeling

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2001: The Longest Decade: Canada in the 1990s

In this chapter, Frank Graves examines the relationship between what he describes as the "official economy," as portrayed by conventional measures of economic performance, and public perceptions of the state of the economy. He also considers the public's understanding of the relationship between economic and social well-being, and the linkages between the public's perception of economic performance and their attitudes toward the redistributive impact of the State and its broader social role. The analysis in the chapter is based on data from quantitative survey and evidence from qualitative focus group conducted over the past decade.Well-being, Wellbeing, Well Being, Social Progress, Social, Societal, Society, Values, Social Capital, Subjective Well-being, Subjective, Redistribution, Growth

The Review of Economic Performance and Social Progress 2002: Towards a Social Understanding of Productivity

This chapter by Emile Tompa provides a comprehensive review of the theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence of the health-productivity relationship with an emphasis on the public policy implications. This relationship goes well beyond the obvious effect of health on capacity to work both in terms of energy level and working time. Focusing on the Grossman model, the author describes three additional pathways through which health can affect productivity at an aggregate level. For instance, individuals with a longer life expectancy may choose to invest more in education as they receive greater returns from their investment. They may also be motivated to save more for retirement, which would lead to greater accumulation of physical capital. Finally, improvement in the survival and health of young children may provide incentives for reduced fertility and may result in increased labour-force participation.Health, Safety, Human Capital, Nutrition, Longevity, Disability, Sickness, Productivity, Labour Productivity, Labor Productivity, Growth, Life Expectancy, Healthcare, Health Care, Health Spending, Investment, Childcare, Child Care