Category: Economics

Is the Number of Papers on a Topic a Good Indicator of its Importance?

The Wikipedia entry on “Global Cooling” dismisses the idea that it was the prevailing view in the 1970’s by showing the numbers of papers on cooling versus the number on warming. Does this truly support the author’s claim?

In this post, I describe a fictitious experiment and then draw up a non-complete list of papers that could be produced from the experiment.

I then show a real-life example of this sort of “paper-churning”. Continue reading “Is the Number of Papers on a Topic a Good Indicator of its Importance?”

America Does Not Need Smaller Government!

A familiar rallying cry of the Right is a call for smaller government. This is seen as self-evident and a “good thing” in and of itself.

However, if we look at the most successful advanced economies in the world, we see that most have more government spending as a fraction of GDP than the US (data from “Pocket World in Figures, 2015 Edition, The Economist). Continue reading “America Does Not Need Smaller Government!”

Can Increasing Taxes on the 1-Percent Cover the Deficit?

In an article in the Globe and Mail, provocatively titled “Justin Trudeau lives in a fact-free world on taxes” (Dec 16, 2016) Mark Milke, says that Trudeau “claims taxing one cohort less and another more is a recipe for economic growth. Skip how all the tax talk ignores the spending side of the budget where Mr. Trudeau and prudence are mortal enemies.” A little reflection on the article shows that, in fact, it is Milke whose analysis is wrong. Continue reading “Can Increasing Taxes on the 1-Percent Cover the Deficit?”

Fair or Effective Taxes?

In a recent article in the Financial Post, Ted Rechtshaffen, (“‘Tax the rich’ may be a rallying cry, but it’s hardly a fair system”, May 15) looked at three different tax schemes:

  • Progressive Tax Rates
  • Flat Percentage Tax
  • Flat Dollar Amount per Adult

I will take these in reverse order.

Continue reading “Fair or Effective Taxes?”

Taxing the Multinationals

 

Recently, the EU has ruled that Apple owes Ireland €13 billion in back taxes. The CEO of Apple reacted with the sort of indignation only an American can achieve when dealing with non-Americans. Columnists tended to side with Apple on the basis of their ideological biases.

Yet the central issue of taxing corporations is that globalisation and the rise of mega-corporations has not been mirrored by a rise in inter-governmental co-operation. Only such co-operation can deal with the problems.

Continue reading “Taxing the Multinationals”

The Hypocrisy of Angela Merkel

The chief reason the British voted to leave the EU was the issue of immigration. Before the vote, David Cameron (Britain’s Prime Minister) “re-negotiated” the relationship of Britain with the rest of the EU. However, he was unable to get any concessions on EU immigration because it is one of the “four freedoms” which is central to the EU.

Could there be a conspiracy at work?

Continue reading “The Hypocrisy of Angela Merkel”

Is Boris Johnson’s Optimism about London’s Financial Centre Justified?

In his first trip to the US, Boris Johnson, Britain’s new Foreign Minister and a leader in the Brexit campaign, claimed that UK financial firms will keep EU ‘passporting’, which allows banks to sell their services to clients across the EU. He claimed that the “City” (as London Financial district is called) offers the deepest pools of liquidity, talent and skill for the capital formation needs of businesses across Europe (Julian Ambrose, in Daily Telegraph, July 23rd).

The “talent and skill” is crucial. As someone who was brought up in the UK, I cannot shake the suspicion that, for every financial whizz-kid in the City, there are ten upper-class twits (good example of an upper-class twit – John Cleese in the Monty Python sketch “The Ministry of Silly Walks”).

Is Johnson’s optimism justified? Several reasons suggest that it is not: Continue reading “Is Boris Johnson’s Optimism about London’s Financial Centre Justified?”

Not all “One-Percenters” are Equal

There has been much talk of the top “one percent”. It makes for great slogans, but putting the top 1% (whether by income or by wealth) into a single group is an over-simplification. When hearing about the “one-percent”, most people immediately think of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Carlos Slim. However, in a recent article about US millionaires, the Economist stated that the average millionaire drives a Ford. This apparent contradiction needs to be resolved.

Within the “one-percent” there is a distribution of incomes/wealth which approximates to a log-normal distribution i.e. increasingly fewer members the higher up the scale you go.

In fact, the top 1% can be divided into six distinct groups. Based on wealth, over and above their principal residence, these are: Continue reading “Not all “One-Percenters” are Equal”

INTRODUCTION

I am starting this blog because I believe I have insights, views and opinions which are not expressed elsewhere, whether in the media or by other commentators. My main items of interest are:

  • Climate change
  • Current events
  • Economics
  • Canadian Issues

Future topics on this blog include:

  • Does Brexit doom London as a Financial Centre?
  • Understanding Jeremy Corbyn
  • Where will Putin strike next?
  • What does the data say about global warming?
  • The elites in the West are under attack – what are the issues they are not addressing?

The following describes my attitudes and credentials on the main topics: Continue reading “INTRODUCTION”