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Susan Cui

The Daily, Thursday, May 12, 2011. New Housing Price Index - 3 views

www.statcan.gc.ca/...dq110512a-eng.htm

Housing Price Index

shared by Susan Cui on 23 May 11 - No Cached
  • The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) was unchanged in March following a 0.4% advance in February.
  • Between February and March, prices rose the most in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton (+0.4%) followed by the metropolitan regions of Toronto and Oshawa, Winnipeg and Regina (all three registering increases of 0.3%).
  • The most significant monthly price decreases were recorded in Québec (-0.7%), Windsor (-0.6%) and Edmonton (-0.2%).
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Year over year, the NHPI was up 1.9% in March following a 2.1% increase in February.
  • The largest year-over-year increase was observed in St. John's (+6.2%), followed closely by Regina (+6.1%). Compared with March 2010, contractors' selling prices were also higher in Winnipeg (+4.5%) as well as in Toronto and Oshawa (+3.6%). Windsor (-4.6%), London (-1.7%), Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay (-1.3%) and Victoria (-1.2%) posted 12-month declines in March.
  • Susan Cui on 23 May 11
     
    The New Housing Price Index indicates that during the month of March, there was no change in NHPI. This was because the increase of housing prices in some metropolitan regions were offset by the decrease in housing prices in other metropolitan areas. The areas with the most significant housing price increase were Saint John, Fredericton, Moncton, metropolitan regions of Toronto, Oshawa, Winnipeg and Regina. The areas with the most housing price decrease were Quebec, Windsor and Edmonton. Increase in housing prices in some metropolitan areas were due to improving market conditions and higher material, labour, land development costs. Decrease in housing prices in other metropolitan areas were due to slower market conditions and lower land costs. Comparing to last year's NHPI in March, the NHPI went up 1.9%.
Alejandro Enamorado

Regional inequality: Internal affairs | The Economist - 0 views

www.economist.com/18332880

regional inequality

shared by Alejandro Enamorado on 03 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • And the income gap between richer and poorer areas is likely to widen further as government-spending cuts disproportionately hurt less prosperous parts.
  • In several places regional disparities have worsened over time. Start with America. Between 2007 and 2009 real GDP per head in the five richest states actually rose by an average of 2%, but fell by 3% in the five poorest.
  • But studies suggest that differences in productivity are far more important than differences in joblessness in explaining regional income gaps. This implies that governments also need to focus on improving education and skills in poorer areas. In Mississippi only 19% of those aged 25 or over have a degree, compared with 36% in Connecticut or 48% in the District of Columbia.
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  • Indeed, the gap between richer and poorer regions is likely to widen in many countries as the public-spending axe falls. Nowhere will this effect be more striking than in Britain. Cities in the north and Wales are much more dependent on public-sector jobs and welfare benefits than cities in the south.
dani tav

Government Collaboration Builds Growth - 0 views

business-journal.com/ion-builds-growth-p19266-1.htm

Government Collaboration Building Growth USA

shared by dani tav on 31 May 11 - No Cached
  • effective local government would play in improving northeast Ohio's economic future
  • conomic competitiveness component of the Fund for Our Economic Future
  • government efficiency and collaboration are relevant and timely topics in our region
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • We are beginning to see the positive results collaboration can bring, including significant savings to protect vital services and ensure our communities invest in innovation and education to create jobs and keep the region competitive in the global economy."
  • he rate of local government spending in Northeast Ohio is 70 times the region's population growth, 2.8 times its inflation rate and 2.4 times its economic output
  • government entities spend $20 billion to operate
  • ortheast Ohio residents have made it clear that more efficient local government is a regional priorit
  • collaboration of 100 foundations, organizations and philanthropists from across Northeast Ohio
Chris Li

The Progressive Economics Forum » Garbage In, Garbage Out - 4 views

www.progressive-economics.ca/...garbage-in-garbage-out

Outsourcing Garbage Collection

shared by Chris Li on 24 May 11 - No Cached
  • contract-out garbage collection for half of the City of Toronto as soon as possible as the first step to outsourcing everything we can by next year.
  • Much of the rationale for contracting-out is that private waste collection will save the city many millions of dollars.   However, these figures are based on misinformation and distorted statistics. 
  • Toronto’s costs in 2009 were $72.22 per tonne.  Costs for Mississauga and Brampton as part of the Peel regional municipality were $106.79 per tonne.  Vaughan’s costs were $168.40 per tonne.   The other regional municipalities also had higher costs: Durham at $85.74 per tonne and Halton at  $86.79 per tonne.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • costs for residents of Toronto for private waste collection will increase by at least 20% a year or more than $6 milllion per year and could be 50% or $16 million higher. 
  • From their estimates they claimed that Toronto could save $49 million per year from contracting-out all its waste collection. 
  • they used an econometric technique called “fixed effects regression” which effectively engineered the results they were looking for.  
  • “The most recent studies have found no difference in costs.  Cost savings from privatization erode over time….”.
Alexei Goudzenko

A bold national energy plan can benefit the provinces - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article2044612

energy

shared by Alexei Goudzenko on 04 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • Canada would benefit just as much from the creation of a national electricity grid as it did from the development of the railway and the pipeline. As a nation-building effort, developing these grid connections would give provinces options to buy and sell power of all stripes. Unlike crude oil, it is a consumer product that can be used everywhere, and Canadian supplies of electricity are increasingly renewable in form. Such a project would increase the renewable power potential for Alberta and Saskatchewan by linking existing and future hydro development in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia to these markets. While the distances here are excessive, the challenge is not insurmountable.
  • Many Canadians may not realize this, but most of Canada’s long-distance, high-capacity connections for oil and electricity run north-south, not east-west. In these key industries, we have focused almost exclusively on serving the U.S. This is one of the great strengths of our nation -- the ability of each province to create its own best strategy for developing revenue streams. It’s also a weakness, because lack of access to other provincial markets has effectively siloed our energy strategies along provincial lines, leading to a patchwork of development across the country that does not take advantage of potential synergies across regions.
Alexei Goudzenko

Japan's Tea Industry Facing Shortage as Nuclear Radiation Taints Shipments - Bloomberg - 0 views

www.bloomberg.com/...adiation-taints-shipments.html

japan's tea industry

shared by Alexei Goudzenko on 03 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • Japan may face a shortage of green tea as radiation leaking from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi power station tainted leaves, spurring the government to restrict shipments from four prefectures.
  • The government decided yesterday to curb shipments of dried tea leaves containing more than 500 becquerel per kilogram of radioactive cesium and ordered a halt in shipments from the eastern prefectures of Ibaraki, Chiba, Kanagawa and Tochigi where tainted produce was detected. Japan’s tea production, including fresh and dried leaves, was worth 102.1 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in 2009, according to the agriculture ministry.
  • The decision came after Shizuoka prefecture, Japan’s largest growing region representing about 40 percent of total output, declared its green tea was safe. Governor Heita Kawakatsu said last month tests on fresh leaves and drinks showed they contained cesium amounts well below the government levels. Still, cesium levels in dried leaves could be about five times higher than fresh leaves, said Yasuo Sasaki, senior press counselor at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
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  • “The new regulation may spur shipment restrictions from Shizuoka prefecture, slashing supplies and boosting prices of green teas,” Sasaki said today in a telephone interview. “Higher prices could spur consumers to shift from green tea to cheaper alternatives such as barley tea or oolong tea.”
  • Drink makers such as Ito En Ltd. (2593) purchase Japanese green tea as a raw material. The company’s shares lost 2.6 percent to 1,370 yen today on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Linda Lei

A warning for Canadian consumers, household debt could spark 'made in Canada' recession... - 1 views

okotoksmortgages.com/...e-in-canada%E2%80%99-recession

consumer debt housing price

shared by Linda Lei on 03 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • “One scenario is that interest rates rise, house prices drop, and more people begin defaulting on their credit card debt and mortgage obligations. An equally worrying – and perhaps more likely scenario – is that interest rates go up a little, and more of people’s disposable income goes to repaying their debt, leading to a significant reduction in consumer spending. Since personal spending on consumer goods and services accounts for 58 per cent of the Canadian gross domestic product, this decrease would provoke a ‘made in Canada’ recession.”
  • Total household debt in Canada now tops $1.5-trillion, or three times the national debt, MIT said in a statement outlining the paper by Mr. Dunfield and his colleagues in the Action Canada fellowship. That means that while Mr. Flaherty is being fiscally responsible, many of us may not be following suit.
  • “Canada has also avoided the wide regional performance differences seen in the U.S., where states such as Nevada, California and Florida suffered significantly larger declines than the nation overall,” Mr. Goldin added. “In Canada, house prices in Calgary and Vancouver fell further than those across the nation, but the variance was relatively minor by comparison
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