Livio Di Matteo: Inflation will be stable but higher in 2022
To close out the year, we’ve asked our contributors and staff to make a prediction about 2022. You would think, at least since the early days of 2020, that we’d…
The real issue in the Bank of Canada’s mandate debate
A clear risk is that the operations of the Bank of Canada will become politicized.
Health spending during COVID-19: It’s Complicated
While total health spending is up, there was a reduction in some aspects of health service provision and health spending during the pandemic.
Canada must find its own way in a century that belongs to no one
Any hopes that China would become as lucrative a market as the United States with its own special relationship have been dashed by the hard lesson that China has no special relationships beyond those that serve China.
China’s burial of the West is greatly exaggerated
China’s economic performance is not as robust as many would like to think and its bravado on the international stage is likely to backfire. Despite the seeming strength of China’s economic rise, its position remains fragile.
Livio Di Matteo: A brief and simple history of federal transfers from 1867 to 2021
Federal-provincial negotiations can be acrimonious but that they occur is a testament to the strength of the federal system rather than a weakness. It is only when everyone stops talking that should there be real concern as to the future and stability of Canadian federalism.
Livio Di Matteo: The real victims of wealth inequality? It’s not the middle class
Canada has seen the wealth share of the top 10 percent decline while that of the next 40 percent has increased. What is truly remarkable is how poorly the bottom 50 percent have done over time, with their share remaining practically constant at under 10 percent.
Livio Di Matteo: Are federations dysfunctional in a pandemic?
Why did Taiwan perform better than the U.S. on COVID-19? Why did New Zealand surpass the U.K.? There may be a simple explanation.
Livio Di Matteo: How can we spend so much on health, yet still fail so badly?
The immediate response in 2020 was an increase in total health spending as taken from assorted announced federal and provincial measures totalling $44 billion though much of it remains unspent.