This note discusses trade liberalization and trade taxes. The main issue should not be the reduction of trade taxes but of total tax revenue. By potentially changing the structure of the economy, trade liberalization will affect not just tax revenue but also the role of the state in the economy...

This paper traces the euro zone’s inadequate macroeconomic performance in recent years back to the predominance of a restrictive macroeconomic policy mix based on a ‘new monetarist’ approach to economic policy. An approach based on a (post-)Keynesian analysis is presented as a growth and...

The Broad Economic Policy Guidelines contain the answers of the European Commission and the governments of the EU-member countries to the European growth and employment problems. These guidelines have been the major EU-economic policy concept for around ten years now. They can be seen as a...

While the sagging economy is focusing attention on fiscal policy’s capacity to fight a slump, another challenge looms – the demographic pressures on future program spending. Short-term stimulus can only succeed if it preserves confidence in the long-run capacity of Canadian governments to...

If governments do not meet their budget commitments, accountability to legislators and voters breaks down. How reliable have federal, provincial and territorial commitments been over the past 10 years? Overruns have been the general rule, but some governments have done much better than others.

Saving and investment are critical to Canada's economy. They underpin today's prosperity and will be critical to raising living standards in the future. Growth in Canada's workforce is slowing, and a larger population of older Canadians will soon need pensions and social services. Federal fiscal...

We investigate intergenerational risk sharing in two-pillar pension systems with a pay-as-you-go pillar and a funded pillar. We consider shocks in productivity, depreciation of capital and inflation. The funded pension pillar can be either defined contribution or defined benefit, with benefits...

This paper traces the euro zone’s inadequate macroeconomic performance in recent years back to the predominance of a restrictive macroeconomic policy mix based on a ‘new monetarist’ approach to economic policy. An approach based on a (post-)Keynesian analysis is presented as a growth and...

Unusual economic and political circumstances surround the framing of the 2009 federal budget. A period of global spending outrunning productive capacity has ended with financial crisis and recession in much of the world, Canada included. The sudden slump has prompted demand for, and expectations...

Every year, legislators in Canada vote for budgets that set out targets for the coming fiscal year. But every year, governments tend to spend more than they promise at budget time. The result: accountability between legislators and voters breaks down. Canadians should demand better.