Racing to the Bottom? : Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation

The spectre of a "race to the bottom" is increasingly prominent in debates about globalization and also within federal systems where the mobility of both capital and individuals prompts fears of interjurisdictional competition with respect to taxes and environmental and welfare standards. While there has been no shortage of either political rhetoric or academic theorizing on this subject, empirical studies have been in shorter supply. This volume seeks to fill that gap by asking: Are Canadian provinces engaged in a race to the bottom and, if so, what are the consequences? The contributors apply insights from economics and political science to several policy fields. What emerges is a theoretical and empirical picture of interprovincial competition that shows it to be more complex than the popular image of a race to the bottom and that also contradicts predictions of an inexorable downward spiral. This timely, practical volume will be of interest to public policy practitioners, as well as to students and scholars of economics and political science