Why do some regions grow faster than others? More precisely, why do rates of convergence differ? Recent research points to labour market frictions as a possible answer. This paper expands along this line by investigating how these labour market frictions interact with regional migration....

This paper finds an important relationship between the international food trade and cross-country income and productivity differences. Poor countries have low labour productivity in agriculture relative to other sectors, yet predominantly consume domestically-produced food. To understand these...

Challenged by remote locations, small populations, rugged terrain and (at times) difficult climate conditions, Canada's territories rely heavily on imported goods to maintain their standards of living. At the same time, industries in the territories are highly reliant on access to export markets...

This paper assesses the costs of internal trade barriers and proposes policies to improve internal trade. Estimates suggest that complete liberalization of internal trade in goods can increase GDP per capita by about 4 percent and reallocate employment towards provinces that experience large...

French Abstract: Est‐ce que le commerce à l'intérieur d'un pays affecte son bien‐être et sa productivité? Quelles sont la magnitude et les conséquences des coûts d'un tel commerce? Pour répondre à ces questions, on utilise des données canadiennes uniques pour mesurer les coûts du...

Canada's inflation rate rose from 3.1 percent in June 2021 to 8.1 percent one year later. What is behind this rapid surge? And will higher interest rates ease the pressure? We explore these questions with a detailed analysis of recently rising inflation. We find a few items dominate, especially...

The Bank of Canada is responding to high inflation by increasing its policy interest rate. With the Bank having recently expanded its balance sheet by buying government bonds and increasing its liabilities to financial institutions, higher policy rates have immediate implications for the Bank of...

Alberta should open its doors to job seekers with labour mobility reforms that will boost its economic fortunes post-COVID. The province has a unique opportunity to promote economic revival and longterm economic growth by ensuring that it is the most welcoming jurisdiction to talented workers...