Lagging Behind: Productivity and the Good Fortune of Canadian Provinces

The good fortune of bountiful natural resources is not enough to ensure rising incomes for Canadians in the long term. Growing labour productivity is the most important determinant of future economic welfare and on that measure, Canada is falling behind its major trading partners. Increasing labour productivity does not mean workers working harder for less money, a common canard. It means more investment in one of three factors: 1) human capital (education or other learning); 2) physical capital (plants or other infrastructure); or 3) technology. Just as an individual’s income is in the long-run dependent on how productive he or she is, so too is that of the nation as a whole. If Canada fails to improve its productivity, the incomes of both individual Canadians and the nation as a whole will fall behind those of other developed countries.Economic Growth and innovation, Canadian provinces, labour productivity

Une analyse de la politique fiscale du gouvernement fédéral par l’examen des soldes budgétaires

In this paper, we assess the current federal fiscal policy using the budget forecast of February 1984 and some macroeconomic concepts. The payments of interest on the public debt are of considerable importance in our analysis. We also give our opinion on the macroeconomic impact of a certain number of non budgetary measures included in the Federal budget of February 1984. Finally, we analyse the long term problems brought up by the budget deficits of the Federal government

The Canadian Dollar and the Dutch and Canadian Diseases

With the spectacular rise of the dollar, along with rising natural-resource prices during the first decade of the 21st century, Canadians heard a great deal about Dutch disease. Many politicians and pundits blamed the phenomenon — in which a country’s currency, inflated by rising commodity prices, renders manufacturing exports increasingly uncompetitive — for rising unemployment in the Canadian manufacturing industry. But a close look at what happened during that period reveals that the Dutch disease mechanism was only part of the story. The other part, and quantitatively the most important, is an affliction of an altogether different providence: Canadian disease. Canadian disease is the economic trouble that can be caused by Canada’s extraordinarily heavy reliance on the United States as a trading partner. As a consequence, a sudden depreciation of the U.S, dollar will deteriorate the competitiveness of Canadian manufacturing exporters. Such a phenomenon was at work during the “Great Appreciation” of the Canadian dollar between 2002 and 2008 — the largest such appreciation on record in this country. The depreciation of the U.S. dollar is a phenomenon that is independent of the resource boom and the resulting consequences on the Canadian economy cannot be endorsed to a Dutch disease. Almost 2/3 of the employment losses that are exchange rate related in the trade-exposed manufacturers in Canada during the 2002–2008 period could be attributed to the Canadian disease. The Canadian dollar is partly driven by commodity prices, and the appreciation of the Canadian dollar exerts a negative impact on manufacturing industries that are exposed to international competition. This phenomenon can be coined as a Dutch Affair. The Dutch Affair becomes a disease in the long run when the non-renewable resource is depleted and the manufacturing base is gone. New manufacturing activities might not reappear due to a variety of obstacles. In Canada, we may only have a Dutch Affair, not Dutch disease. Only the future, however, will reveal if the Affair is likely to become a disease. In the short- and medium-run, the net effect of the commodity boom is clearly positive. However, a commodity boom is a phenomenon analogue to a change in terms of trade and it creates winners and losers that are not necessarily located in the same geographic area. The high level of decentralization of the Canadian federation and the growth of natural resources as a share of Canadian exports heighten our vulnerability. Enhancing the working of the fiscal federalism might well be the most efficient policy strategy in the short- and the medium-run in order to adequately share the benefits of the boom. The economy does remain particularly vulnerable to Canadian disease, despite a slight recent increase in the diversification of Canadian export markets. The reality is that Canada remains closely tied to the U.S. market by virtue of geography, and therefore, is drawn by the pull of trade “gravity”. It will be difficult for Canada to diversify its export markets sufficiently to immunize itself against Canadian disease

Education, Productivity and Economic Growth: A Selective Review of the Evidence

We review a selection of the theoretical and empirical literature on human capital and growth that appear to provide the most relevant insights for policy development in the Canadian context. We first focus on the extension of the neo-classical growth model with the inclusion of human capital in an open economy framework, and discuss its empirical applications to the Canadian economy. We also examine other issues such as the returns to education and the distance from the technological frontier, the microeconomic versus macroeconomic return to education, and the quantity versus quality of education. Although the levels of investment in education and the overall quality of the educational system in Canada are fairly high, we argue that the returns of additional investments in post-secondary education could still be substantial since Canada is relatively close to the technology frontier.Human Capital, Growth, Policy, education, technological frontier, education quality,

Une analyse de la politique fiscale du gouvernement fédéral par l’examen des soldes budgétaires

In this paper, we assess the current federal fiscal policy using the budget forecast of February 1984 and some macroeconomic concepts. The payments of interest on the public debt are of considerable importance in our analysis. We also give our opinion on the macroeconomic impact of a certain number of non budgetary measures included in the Federal budget of February 1984. Finally, we analyse the long term problems brought up by the budget deficits of the Federal government.

Convergence des profils de croissance régionaux de part et d'autre de la frontière américaine

À la fin des années 80, les macro-économistes se mirent à délaisser l'étude des cycles économiques et de l'inflation pour se tourner davantage vers les modèles de croissance économique. Ce regain d'intérêt pour la croissance donna naissance à une nouvelle vague d'études empiriques du phénomène de la convergence tant entre pays qu'entre régions d'un même pays. Dans cet exposé, nous passerons en revue les fondements de ces études empiriques, en particulier ceux du modèle néo-classique, et appliquerons les méthodes suivies dans ce modèle à l'analyse de la convergence existant entre les régions du Canada ainsi qu'entre les douze états situés le long de la frontière sud du Canada. Nous constaterons que ce phénomène de convergence s'est produit dans les deux ensembles régionaux conformément au modèle néo-classique, bien que le phénomène de dispersion de la production per capita demeure plus élevé au Canada qu'aux États-Unis. C'est pourquoi, nous avons alors décomposé la variance régionale pour élucider les causes de l'écart de cette dispersion respective.In the late 1980s, macroeconomists began to shift their attention from business cycles and inflation to models of economic growth. This renewed interest in economic growth gave rise to a new wave of empirical studies of economic convergence across both countries and regions within a country. In this paper we review the theoretical underpinnings of these empirical studies, with a particular emphasis on the neoclassical growth model, and then apply their methods to the analysis of regional convergence within Canada and among the twelve states along Canada's southern border with the United States. We find that convergence consistent with the neoclassical growth model has occurred in both countries, although the level of regional dispersion of output per capita remains higher in Canada than among the twelve northern states. We then use a decomposition of the regional variance to shed some light on the sources of this gap between the levels of regional dispersion

La psychanalyse ne résiste pas à l'analyse

Ce texte comprend quatre parties. Dans la première, nous insistons sur deux aspects : la présentation de l’analyse de 31 cas traités par Freud mettant en évidence la non efficacité de son approche et l’aveu de Freud quant à sa vocation littéraire. Au cours de la deuxième partie, nous montrons que le caractère dogmatique des débuts de la psychanalyse sévit encore aujourd’hui dans certains milieux. Nous verrons d’abord que le dogmatisme a mis fin à la carrière de Piaget à titre de psychanalyste, puis nous insisterons sur le fait que la soumission à l’autorité, une caractéristique centrale du dogmatisme, imprègne la psychanalyse et que le cas fondateur de celle-ci, Anna O., repose sur le dogme et le mensonge. Dans la troisième partie, à l’aide d’exemples tirés des écrits de Lacan, Dolto et Bettelheim ainsi que de la pratique actuelle, nous répondrons à ceux qui prétendent que la psychanalyse a évolué, que tel n’est pas nécessairement le cas. Enfin, nous mettons en évidence que la tentative des psychanalystes de récupérer le courant de la neuropsychologie à leur profit ne tient pas la route.The text analyzes the foundations, development, and current state of psychoanalysis, and formulates a critical response to its current proponents. The first section of the text stresses the importance of two elements: the analysis of 31 cases documented by Freud, underlining the inefficacy of his approach, and Freud’s own acknowledgment of his literary vocation. The second section demonstrates that the dogmatic character of early psychoanalysis continues to prevail in certain milieus today. After describing how dogmatism ended Piaget’s career as a psychoanalyst, this section argues that submission to authority (a central characteristic of dogmatism) permeates the field of psychoanalysis and that its founding case – that of Anna O. – rests on dogma and fabrication. Drawing on examples from the works of Lacan, Dolto, and Bettelheim, as well as from current practice, the third section formulates a response to arguments that psychoanalysis has evolved, raising doubts about whether such is really the case. Based on the analysis, the fourth and final section concludes that attempts by psychoanalysts to bring the central current of neuropsychology back under their sway are ill-founded

Les francophones dans la ligue nationale de hockey : une analyse économique de la discrimination

Dans cet article nous présentons une explication de la situation des Québécois francophones dans la Ligue nationale de hockey, explication qui contredit celle avancée par Michel Boucher dans le numéro de septembre 1984 de cette revue. Nous faisons appel à la théorie de la discrimination économique pour expliquer le fait que la performance des francophones est supérieure en moyenne à celle des anglophones. L’existence de barrières à l’entrée impliquerait que les francophones doivent être meilleurs que les anglophones pour pouvoir se tailler une place dans la Ligue nationale. En premier lieu nous critiquons les hypothèses et la méthodologie de Michel Boucher.In this paper, an explanation of the situation of Francophone Quebekers in the National Hockey League will be presented. This explanation is in contradiction with the one proposed by Michel Boucher in the September 1984 issue of this review. We call upon the economic theory of discrimination in order to explain the higher performance of Francophones over Anglophones. The existence of barriers to entry implies that Francophones have to be better than Anglophones if they want to play in the NHL. In the first place, we criticize Michel Boucher's hypotheses and methodology