Wednesday, May. 22, 2013 2:32PM EDT

Why do we need monopolies on beer and milk?

Barrie McKenna

Competition laws that thwart rivals from illegally fixing prices and limiting supply cover all industries in Canada – except where governments arbitrarily rule they don’t.

Think about dairy and poultry markets, beer sales in Ontario or legal services. In each case, governments override the law in the name of the public interest to protect private monopolies.

Wednesday, May. 22, 2013 11:45AM EDT

Retail sales flat in March – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing

DAVID PARKINSON

When is zero growth in retail sales not necessarily a bad thing?

If you said (a) when it’s not really zero growth at all and (b) when it’s accompanied by a drop in fuel prices, then you’re finding all the right answers in Canada’s March retail sales report.

Yes, total sales, in dollar value, went absolutely nowhere last month. But the lack of growth was entirely the result of a drop in gasoline prices; if you exclude gasoline from the numbers, the value of sales was up 0.2 per cent in the month, the third consecutive monthly increase. And if you look at sales volumes – excluding price changes entirely from the equation – then sales were up 0.7 per cent, a decidedly strong number.

Wednesday, May. 22, 2013 5:00AM EDT

The loonie’s flight is about to lose altitude

CLÉMENT GIGNAC

Earlier this year, I expressed my concern about a potential secular downtrend in the Canadian dollar. Nearly three months later, the dollar still sits near parity, but ongoing developments are leading me to reinforce my conviction that foreign investors are about to revisit their optimism on the currency.

Tuesday, May. 21, 2013 11:28AM EDT

Global food market far improved from crisis years

ERIC REGULY

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization headquarters in Rome is an oasis of calm, for a change.

Food prices, though relatively high, are well off their peak, and production is rising. No one is talking about convening an emergency food summit.

There are pockets of distress around the planet and FAO says 870 milllion people suffer from chronic undernourishment.

Tuesday, May. 21, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Bank of Canada’s phantom Council

SHERYL KING

In matters of finance, power is everything. For this reason, news this month of a new Bank of Canada governor is a big deal; a much bigger deal than the U.S. Federal Reserve Board acquiring a new chairman.

At the Bank of Canada, the governor holds all the decision-making power. Fed policy, in contrast, is ruled by a committee. This distinction between the Bank and the Fed is often lost on Canadian and international investors. As such, the ideology of the new Bank governor may have a much greater impact on the future direction of Canada's monetary policy than investors appreciate.

Monday, May. 20, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Sorry, hockey fans. Canada’s NHL woes can’t be blamed on the loonie

DAVID PARKINSON

As we gaze upon another Stanley Cup playoffs with the sad, forlorn eyes of a nation whose teams are mostly already eliminated, we have to wonder how the elusive hand of economics has deceived us once again.

Of the seven National Hockey League teams based in Canada, only four made the playoffs at all. After a couple of first-round defeats, the Ottawa Senators are now the lone Canadian team still standing – and they’re in tough against one of this year’s favourites to win the Cup, the talent-laden Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s been 20 years since the last time a Canadian franchise won Lord Stanley’s oversized goblet, and the odds are long for that losing streak to be broken this year.

* Season shortened by labour dispute. Figures are pro-rated for a full-length season.
SOURCES: NHL.com, Capgeek.com, USA Today

Sunday, May. 19, 2013 7:44PM EDT

Housing recovery signs point to healthier U.S. economy

RICHARD BLACKWELL

The sputtering U.S. economy seems reluctant to kick back into full recovery mode, but there are signs of improvement and many economists think that by the end of this year it could be chugging along at a healthy pace.

On Friday, there was another positive sign with the release of the U.S. Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index – a composite of 10 indicators – that showed a solid 0.6-per-cent gain in April. The numbers hint at an economy moving into expansion mode, the board said, although it warned that government spending cuts could dent consumer and business confidence.

Sunday, May. 19, 2013 7:43PM EDT

March retail sales likely slower as loonie sags, debt drags

MICHAEL BABAD

Economists wonder whether the sagging loonie might keep some cross-border shoppers at home for a while, giving Canada’s retailers a boost in the process.

Many observers expect Statistics Canada to report Wednesday that retail sales across the country rose by 0.2 per cent in March, though some expect to see a decline of 0.2 per cent.

Friday, May. 17, 2013 5:38PM EDT

The jobs challenge: Canadians don’t want to move out of province

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

In 1996, Stephen Poloz, who next month will become the next governor of the Bank of Canada, contributed to a paper (pdf) that showed shifts in commodity prices can cause significant variation in economic strength among Canada’s provinces.

Makes sense: A surge in crude prices is great for Alberta, a net-exporter of oil, and not so great for Ontario, a consumer with none of its own supply.

Friday, May. 17, 2013 11:14AM EDT

We’re paying more for bacon, but getting a break on coffee

DAVID PARKINSON

Okay, so Canada’s inflation rate shrunk to its post-recession low last month, and apparently we all have cheaper gasoline prices to thank.

(Although I find it hard to call $1.20-plus a litre cheap – I still remember filling up the old VW Bug with a $20 bill and getting back enough change to buy food for my pet dodo, but I digress.)

Friday, May. 17, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Is home ownership bad for employment? Maybe

LINDA NAZARETH

Here’s one thing everyone knows, whatever their political or economic leanings: Home ownership is good for the economy. Homeowners are savers, homeowners are great employees because they need their jobs, homeowners care about their communities, homeowners build communities, for goodness’ sake. The list goes on – except that maybe it doesn’t.

Thursday, May. 16, 2013 5:47PM EDT

Which city’s hockey fans drink more during the playoffs?

BARRIE MCKENNA

The rise and fall of Leaf Nation was great for business at Toronto restaurants – while it lasted.

Sales shot up 31.1 per cent at bars and restaurants near the Air Canada Centre on home game nights during the first-round playoff series against Boston, compared to regular season games the previous week, according to a spending report by Moneris Solutions Corp., which processes credit card and debit transactions.

Thursday, May. 16, 2013 2:36PM EDT

Central bank moves working, but return to normal could be bumpy: economists

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

Unconventional monetary policy is working, economists at the Bank of Canada and International Monetary Fund say, but both sets of researchers warn in separate reports that a return to normalcy could be bumpy.

While the papers reflect the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of their respective institutions, the matching conclusions nonetheless promise to stiffen the resolve of central bankers to press ahead with their unprecedented adventures in policy making.

Thursday, May. 16, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Respect is key to aboriginal approval of Northern Gateway pipeline

BRIAN LEE CROWLEY

Contrary to what regular readers of newspapers might believe, aboriginal communities in Canada are not knee-jerk opponents of development. On the contrary, a careful reading of their recent responses to development proposals gives reason for optimism.

Perhaps the highest-profile example of a major natural resource project facing roadblocks in large part because of aboriginal opposition is the Northern Gateway pipeline to link Alberta’s oil sands to Asian markets through the West Coast. While other players (such as the B.C. government) matter too, without aboriginal support, Northern Gateway (or its equivalent) almost certainly will not succeed. With that support, it has a fighting chance. Can that support be achieved?

Wednesday, May. 15, 2013 3:28PM EDT

Global economy has a ‘long and fairly bumpy’ recovery ahead

TAVIA GRANT

Spring may have sprung, but not all economists are sprightly about the outlook for the global economy.

In fact, as a Toronto audience heard Wednesday morning, the risk of a recession in Canada is “higher than normal,” the U.S. is set for “unspectacular” growth, Europe is poised for another downturn and even the BRIC countries will not be the economic drivers they had been in the past decade.

Wednesday, May. 15, 2013 2:20PM EDT

Hike rates now, economist urges Bank of Canada

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

The argument against ultralow interest rates tends to be reduced to inflation and asset-price bubbles.

But there are other reasons to worry about where current monetary policy could be leading us.

Could the inability to earn a profit from government bonds cause insurance companies to adopt the riskier habits of investment banks? Have central banks unwittingly made it even harder from smaller companies to raise capital by creating an environment that favours big, dividend-paying corporations? Is the Bank of Canada’s benchmark interest rate of 1 per cent allowing provincial finance ministers to avoid getting serious about their strained finances, and floating weak companies that otherwise would go under?

Wednesday, May. 15, 2013 7:48AM EDT

Lessons from the B.C. election: The economy trumps all for voters

JACK MINTZ

The surprising come-from-behind victory by B.C. Liberals under Christy Clark shows that the economy is paramount in voters’ minds. The Liberals consistently emphasized economic development that was sufficient to overcome a twenty-point lead by the NDP before the campaign. Now the Clark government returns, its task will be to deliver on its campaign promises.

Wednesday, May. 15, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Canada needs to consider a fiscal Plan B

ANDREW JACKSON

Canada’s Economic Action Plan is being widely advertised this National Hockey League playoff season, but it is hardly working as advertised. It needs to be rethought in light of new thinking about the costs of austerity.

While the feel-good ads would have us think that the famous “Plan” is generating growth and jobs, last week’s Labour Force Survey showed that we have lost almost 100,000 paid jobs in the private sector since December.

Tuesday, May. 14, 2013 11:19AM EDT

In Canada’s housing market, the other shoe has already dropped

DAVID PARKINSON

For those who have been waiting for the other shoe to fall in Canada’s housing-market slowdown, I have news for you: It already has. It just hasn’t hit the ground yet.

As sales and construction have slowed dramatically in recent months, home prices managed to resist slumping along with them. This curious phenomenon had the optimists talking about a soft landing for the sector; but the pessimists (realists?) saw this as a Wile E. Coyote-esque illusion, certain that as soon as the market noticed that the ground beneath it had fallen away, it would plunge through the thin air inexplicably holding it aloft.

Tuesday, May. 14, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Pragmatic conservatives missing in the climate change debate

CHRISTOPHER RAGAN

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend an event in Ottawa put on by Canada 2020, a newish think tank of sorts that is trying to further debate on the policy changes we need over the next decade. “How to sell carbon pricing to Canadians” included a panel of informed and enthusiastic speakers, and overflowed a large room at the Château Laurier.

Monday, May. 13, 2013 9:39AM EDT

Restrictive provincial ratios bog down access to apprenticeships

ROBBIE BRYDON AND BENJAMIN DACHIS

Few topics have generated as much federal attention in the past few months as encouraging workers to fill the oft-cited shortage in skilled trades. But if the provinces do not reform their regulations restricting entry to the skilled trades, the federal effort may be wasted.

Workers in the skilled trades – carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and many more occupations – are a crucial component of the Canadian labour force. According to the most recent data, 2.1 million Canadians worked in a trade for some period in 2005.

Monday, May. 13, 2013 5:00AM EDT

U.S. slowly edging away from budget precipice

Kevin Carmichael

On the surface, there’s as little reason as ever to feel hopeful about the U.S. budget.

Republican lawmakers again are insisting that President Barack Obama will have to give them something to get renewed borrowing authority, heralding another summer showdown over the debt ceiling.

The Democratic-led Senate and the Republican-led House of Representatives are in a standoff on how to go about reconciling their separate budget proposals. (That’s right, how to negotiate. Senate leaders want to go straight into a traditional conference, where proposals approved in each chamber are debated until there is a compromise. House leaders are holding out for a “framework” agreement that would commit both sides to achieving broad goals, such as aggregate spending cuts.)

Sunday, May. 12, 2013 8:10PM EDT

Inflation reading forecast to dip on lower gasoline prices

MICHAEL BABAD

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that prices at the gas pump can and do fall, but they did last month, taking inflation along for the ride.

Economists expect Statistics Canada to report this week that the annual inflation rate dipped below 1 per cent in April, to somewhere between 0.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent.

Friday, May. 10, 2013 5:28PM EDT

Goods-sector job trends throw off economic hints

DAVID PARKINSON

Canada’s largely unremarkable April employment report did reveal an eyebrow-raising development: a divergence between goods-sector and services-sector growth.

The country’s goods-producing industries generated 24,500 net jobs in the month, while the services-producing industries lost 12,000. Yet over the past 12 months, the divergence has been the reverse – service-sector employment has increased 1.6 per cent in the past year, but goods-sector employment has shrunk 1.6 per cent.

Friday, May. 10, 2013 10:37AM EDT

Five notable jobs trends

TAVIA GRANT

Employment levels in Canada were little changed last month and the unemployment rate held at 7.2 per cent. But behind the static-sounding headline lies plenty of churn. Here are five trends in Canada's labour market:

Private sector caution

Virtually all of Canada's job gains over the past year have been in the public sector and among the self-employed, while employment at private companies has been flat. Last month, the private sector shed 20,000 positions, reflecting shaky business confidence. The private-sector job decline over the past two months is the steepest drop since early 2009 when the economy was in recession, notes Stefane Marion, chief economist at National Bank Financial.

Friday, May. 10, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Education as a cure for joblessness

LINDA NAZARETH

We hear it time and time again, and it is true: Get an education if you want to get a job. Still, does it follow that if more people get an education then there will be fewer people unemployed? “Maybe not” seems to be the conclusion, if you look at what is going on in the U.S. economy these days.

There are actually two possible things that a more educated population can affect the labour market:

Thursday, May. 09, 2013 10:59AM EDT

Canadian dollar to sink to 90 cents by 2014: TD

BARRIE McKENNA

Another major bank is forecasting a big drop in the Canadian dollar.

Toronto-Dominion Bank says the loonie, now at near par, will tumble to 90 cents by early next year, before recovering to 93 cents by the end of 2014.

The bank blames the loss of Canada’s “growth advantage,” lower commodity prices and the rebounding might of the U.S. dollar for the reversal.

Thursday, May. 09, 2013 5:00AM EDT

An effective green policy needs sound economics

TODD HIRSCH

There are plenty of weight-loss schemes promising quick, painless ways to shed pounds. If you want a surefire way to lose five pounds in one day – and keep it off – here’s the solution: Have all your unnecessary body parts removed. Your appendix, wisdom teeth, extra ribs, pinkie toes, second kidney. Yank them all out and you’ll be permanently five pounds lighter, guaranteed!

Wednesday, May. 08, 2013 7:28PM EDT

Loonie’s strength will be Stephen Poloz’s first dilemma

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

Like the Bank of Canada, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand keeps policy simple. Canada’s central bank was the second to adopt an inflation target. New Zealand was the first. Both also are staunch supporters of floating exchange rates, arguing that fighting the market is a losing proposition.

So when Graeme Wheeler, New Zealand’s central bank chief, says he intervened in foreign-exchange markets to weaken the kiwi – as he did Wednesday during parliamentary testimony in Wellington – it’s worth taking note.

Wednesday, May. 08, 2013 9:41AM EDT

Housing starts fall 3.5% in April as market faces ‘new reality’

TARA PERKINS

Housing starts cooled in April, suggesting that home builders are scaling back construction in the wake of the decline in home sales. And, notably, the consensus estimate among economists for this important spring month was virtually bang on.

Starts came in at 174,900 on an annualized basis in April, a 3.5 per cent decline from March. Economists had been expecting starts to come in at 175,000 on average.

Wednesday, May. 08, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Defending the Canadian Consumer Tax Index

CHARLES LAMMAM AND MILAGROS PALACIOS

Discussions about taxes are inevitably polarizing. Some Canadians think taxes are too high while others happily pay their share. But given the litany of taxes levied on us by the three levels of government, it is nearly impossible to get a sense of how much we truly pay.

That’s why in a recent report we calculate and track the total tax bill of the average Canadian family from 1961 to 2012 by adding up the various taxes they pay to federal, provincial and local governments, including taxes on income, payroll, sales, property, fuel, profits, imports – and the list goes on. We found the average family’s tax bill totalled $31,615 in 2012, representing 1,787-per-cent growth (before adjusting for inflation) compared to 51 years earlier.

Tuesday, May. 07, 2013 4:34PM EDT

To break a cartel: Change the whistleblower incentive

JANET McFARLAND

Canada’s competition watchdog could bolster its weak track record on prosecuting cartels by offering greater incentives to be the first participant to blow the whistle on the others in the group, a new report recommends.

The C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council – a committee of competition lawyers and policy experts – says the federal Competition Bureau has had high-profile success with cases involving international cartels that come to light following prosecution efforts abroad, including the recent high-profile Libor case. But the bureau has had far less success uncovering evidence on domestic cartel cases.

Monday, May. 06, 2013 2:07PM EDT

Half of Canada’s mid-sized cities have not recovered from recession: study

TAVIA GRANT

Some of Canada’s mid-sized cities are flourishing – but not all: Almost half of them have not recouped the jobs they lost during the recession.

New analysis by the Conference Board of Canada finds that 21 of the 46 medium-sized cities it tracks haven’t yet seen employment return to pre-recession levels.

Monday, May. 06, 2013 8:36AM EDT

U.S. rental construction points to inferior housing recovery

SHERYL KING

Many investors argue the recent surge in rental construction is the salvation of the U.S. housing market. Some basic economics, however, suggests otherwise.

In the United States, history indicates a rental property is an “inferior good” – meaning the demand for rental property increases as income declines. This fact is easily seen by the 80-per-cent correlation between real income and the home-ownership rate. So if shifting to renting from home ownership is such a good signal, as many investors claim, why has the home-ownership rate been declining in lock-step with median real income since 2007?

Friday, May. 03, 2013 7:46PM EDT

Working with Stephen Poloz: an insider’s take

SHERYL KING

The choice of Stephen Poloz as the next head of the Bank of Canada came as a surprise to many. To an alumnus of the institution, such as myself, it was much less of a surprise.

When I was a young researcher at the bank, Steve was chief of the research department. I have always believed he would one day take on the mantle of governor. So it was surprising to many of us when he announced his departure from the bank in the 1990s; most of us assumed he was on the fast track to eventually become governor.

Friday, May. 03, 2013 4:31PM EDT

Nine things about new Bank of Canada chief Stephen Poloz

ARMINE YALNIZYAN

1. He's Number Two: Stephen Poloz was widely acknowledged in economic and political circles as the second-best choice for the top job at the Bank of Canada. So the surprise was not that he was chosen. The surprise was, Why Not Tiff Macklem? Will someone please find out and tell the rest of us?

2. Doctrinaire [or not?] on Inflation Targeting: He thinks it's “sacrosanct.” Having studied with monetary policy guru David Laidler at the University of Western Ontario, and been part of the Bank of Canada team that brought inflation targeting to a neighbourhood near you, he got the religion all right. Believers are more inclined to see a “rising inflation” problem that isn’t there. The hazard: Pulling the rising-interest-rate trigger too soon and choking off recovery.

Friday, May. 03, 2013 9:28AM EDT

Rich kids are well-stimulated kids – and that makes for successful kids

LINDA NAZARETH

As it turns out, the over-scheduled child may be a child scheduled for educational success and presumably economic success, too.

That seems to be the conclusion of a new study that was profiled in a New York Times blog a few days ago, which is garnering a lot of attention. Those of us parents who have jockeyed for a parking spot at the local dance or music school on Saturday mornings can breathe a sigh of relief: Apparently we were not just wasting our time, even if we over-estimated our kids’ talents.

Friday, May. 03, 2013 8:01AM EDT

Selection of central bank chief may raise questions about independence

KEVIN CARMICHAEL and TAVIA GRANT

The decision of the Harper government to name an outsider as the next governor of the Bank of Canada will raise uncomfortable questions over the sacrosanct independence of the central bank.

That’s not to suggest that Stephen Poloz isn’t qualified for the key position, only that he comes to the job with that hanging over his head.

Thursday, May. 02, 2013 4:55PM EDT

Ontario’s budget plan slow and safe – and that’s the problem

DAVID PARKINSON

Ontario’s new provincial budget leaves it creeping, ever so gradually and from a great distance, toward the promised land of balanced books. But the painfully slow process serves to highlight the still-desperate state of the province’s finances, and to underline the urgency to fix the problem, one way or another.

Thursday, May. 02, 2013 12:16PM EDT

Stephen Poloz faces troubled economic times

BARRIE McKENNA

Stephen Poloz is inheriting an economy that has been losing momentum for months.

The good vibes that carried the Canadian economy out of the Great Recession are gone in the face of a host of new hurdles.

Now, the country faces a troubled neighbour to the south, the end of a long commodities supercycle, a deflating housing bubble, much more cautious consumers, and governments unable or unwilling to make up the gap.

Thursday, May. 02, 2013 11:22AM EDT

ECB interest rate cut largely symbolic

BRIAN MILNER

The European Central Bank has cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in 10 months. But it’s a largely symbolic move that will have little effect on borrowing costs or lending practices, leaving troubling questions about the recession-battered euro zone’s ability to dig itself out of a deepening hole.

Thursday, May. 02, 2013 10:19AM EDT

Mark Carney’s successor to be named today

Bill Curry, Steven Chase and Michael Babad

Canada’s next Bank of Canada governor will be named after markets close today, sources told The Globe and Mail.

Senior deputy governor Tiff Macklem is seen as the front runner, though the Canadian government has surprised markets before when it comes to the chief of the central bank.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has scheduled an announcement for 4 p.m. ET in Ottawa, the though the government would not comment.

Thursday, May. 02, 2013 5:00AM EDT

A smarter way for Canada to do aid

BRIAN LEE CROWLEY

The recent federal budget’s elimination of the Canadian International Development Agency, whose activities will be subsumed under the Foreign Affairs department, has attracted relatively little notice. That’s unsurprising, given how little the average person cares about what seem to be abstract bureaucratic machinations.

Wednesday, May. 01, 2013 9:35PM EDT

Mark Carney’s parting shot at Alan Greenspan

Kevin Carmichael

Mark Carney, who has been called the “outstanding” central banker of his generation, has used one of his final speeches as governor of the Bank of Canada to criticize the legacy of Alan Greenspan, who often was characterized as the greatest central banker of his generation.

Mr. Carney said Wednesday that central banks likely left interest rates too low for too long ahead of the financial crisis, mistakenly believing there was little they could do deflate asset-price bubbles.

Wednesday, May. 01, 2013 3:12PM EDT

Fed stands prepared to boost stimulus

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

The U.S. Federal Reserve Board is hedging against the recovery taking a springtime swoon.

Confronting a spate of soft economic data, Fed officials sought to ensure that Wall Street understands they are prepared to boost their stimulus program if the economy continues to weaken.

The Fed’s policy committee ended a two-day meeting Wednesday, committing again to keeping the benchmark interest rate near zero and to keep on creating $85-billion (U.S.) a month to purchase U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities.

Wednesday, May. 01, 2013 7:30AM EDT

Medium-sized companies’ spending intentions give hope

KEVIN CARMICHAEL

The National Center for the Middle Market every quarter gauges the mood of the word’s fourth-biggest economy.

I’m not talking about Germany.

The centre, a partnership of Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business and GE Capital, studies the forgotten “middle” of the U.S. economy – the roughly 197,000 companies that generate revenues of between $10-million (U.S.) and $1-billion. Those companies – neither small nor massive – generate output of some $3.8-trillion a year, which is more than Germany, the world’s fourth-largest national economy.

Wednesday, May. 01, 2013 5:00AM EDT

Canadians’ consumer tax burden is not as onerous as it sounds

ANDREW JACKSON

Hidden deep in the bowels of the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, there is an elaborate contraption known as “the Canadian Tax Simulator.” It generates the data for “the Canadian Consumer Tax Index,” an annual report that supposedly tells us how much tax is paid by the average Canadian family.

The latest report was released just before the income tax filing deadline of April 30. Taxes, we were told, are shockingly high as a proportion of family income, and now loom larger than spending on the necessities of life.

Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013 1:05PM EDT

How to guarantee income in the last years of your life

ROBERT L. BROWN

The world of retirement income security is rapidly changing – and leaving most Canadians without a security net.

In 1986, 39 per cent of the labour force had an employer-sponsored pension, and most of these (92 per cent) were defined benefit (DB) plans, where workers knew clearly the income they would have post-retirement. By 2010, only 29 per cent of workers had a workplace pension and only 75 per cent of these were DB plans.

Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013 10:38AM EDT

Why we love hockey: It helps the economy grow

MICHAEL BABAD

Let’s set aside everything that Tuesday’s GDP report tells us about our economic fortunes, and cheer for just a moment because of what it says about hockey.

What could be more Canadian than the (albeit) small boost to the economy than that?

The arts, entertainment and recreation sector expanded by 3.3 per cent in February, according to Statistics Canada, following a 4.1-per-cent gain in January juiced by the end of the National Hockey League lockout that delayed the season.

Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2013 5:00AM EDT

In the U.S., wealth and whiteness increasingly go together

DAVID PARKINSON

When it comes to wealth, the racial divides in the United States have widened, not narrowed, over the past generation, a new study says.

The Urban Institute, a Washington-based economic and social-policy think tank, issued a report Monday that found that white households in the U.S. average roughly six times the net wealth of black and Latino families in 2010, up from five times in 1983. The average household wealth among Caucasian families in 2010 was $632,000 (U.S.), compared with $110,000 among Latinos and $98,000 among African-Americans.

Monday, Apr. 29, 2013 10:28AM EDT

Dual-income households subsidizing single-earner families

Tammy Schirle

When I teach public policy, I encourage my students to ask three important questions. Why are we interfering with the market? How does the policy redistribute resources? How might these policies change the way people behave? My students, like most people, prefer to start by asking how a policy benefits them personally. Popularity among voters is often the framework politicians use to think about policy-making, but it isn’t a good framework for sound economic policy.

Monday, Apr. 29, 2013 5:00AM EDT

In U.S. jobs market, expect worse before it gets better

DAVID PARKINSON

We’re coming off a week in which austerity politics got a very bad name. It’s not likely to get much better as we look to the big economic release of this week – Friday’s U.S. employment report.

As many economic commentators last week continued to denounce the arithmetically flawed conclusions in the research by Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart that had served as the rallying cry for the pro-austerity argument, here-and-now evidence of the damage wrought by deep government spending cuts mounted.

Sunday, Apr. 28, 2013 6:12PM EDT

ECB moves closer to rate cut as euro zone recession deepens

BRIAN MILNER

The European Central Bank is moving inexorably toward cutting interest rates – and possibly more unorthodox policy measures – as economic conditions continue to deteriorate across the euro zone, inflation remains well below the bank’s target and even Germany, the regional powerhouse, begins to feel the effects of the slump.

Friday, Apr. 26, 2013 12:20PM EDT

U.S. recovery feels the pinch of austerity

DAVID PARKINSON

Austerity is not just a European disease. It is infecting the U.S. economic recovery, too.

The U.S. “advance” reading on gross domestic product for the first quarter, released Friday morning, indicated GDP growth of 2.5 per cent annualized in the quarter – a solid improvement over the anemic 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, but considerably less than the 3.0 per cent economists had expected.

Friday, Apr. 26, 2013 5:00AM EDT

The tyranny of the single (energy) buyer

Michael Burt

Monopolies are something that, as a society, we well understand and try to avoid. But less attention is paid to the polar opposite: the monopsony.

A monopsony refers to being captive to a single buyer – and it is what Canada faces when it comes to most of our energy exports. Like a monopoly, it, too, can come with some unpleasant side effects.