Group items tagged

This article discusses the possibility of a free trade deal between China and Canada; while Canada has the potential to benefit greatly from this deal, Canadians are weary for numerous reasons, including Chinese takeovers of domestic companies, and human rights issues.

When countries form a free-trade deal, it allows the imports and exports between the countries to grow, because there are less trade restrictions such as tariffs. This means that, with import prices decreasing, aggregate supply in Canada will increase.

A government sponsored agency currently controls the prices for dairy products in Canada. This was implemented because the government wanted to regulate the prices paid to dairy farmers and the amount of milk they could produce, in order to protect the farmers. However, problems have begun to arise because of these price controls, mostly due to the fact that the market price is much higher than it should be (which hurts consumers) and it is costing billions of dollars each year.

A study done in Canada by the University of BC looked at who REALLY made up this '1%' that all the Occupy protesters hate so much. Something important they conclude is that the gap between low-income and high-income demographics is massive; nothing to this degree has been seen since the Great Depression. It makes us think about how serious our economic situation really is right now. Another interesting section is around the middle of the article, where they discuss possible reasons for this severe inequality.

In order to protect its domestic industries from European subsidized-sugar, Canada places high duties (tariffs) on imported sugar. This article details how local firms are benefiting due to a ruling that allows these trade barriers. While consumers would benefit from free trade because they can purchase sugar at a low price, it would have a harmful effect on domestic firms, which is why protectionist measures are put in place.

This article describes the transition of the Canadian Wheat Board after the Canadian government ended its monopoly. This means the wheat farmers in Western Canada are now going to have to be more competitive as they don't have a monopoly over the industry, and so the industry is ideally transitioning from a concentrated market structure to a competitive market structure.

This article describes the current situation in Canada with the unemployment rate rising to over seven percent...this article discusses the actions of the government and the casues of this rate to increase

This article offers an explanation of the role of the bank of Canada in the economy and all the different factors they have to assess and keep in mind in order to help economic growth...one of the factors they must consider is aggregate demand....as it is related to a lot of other factors.

Who likes cheese? In Canada we do, and it's not helpful that our dairy prices are so much higher than other countries. This article analyzes our situation compared to other countries, particularly the United States. It also brings up the idea of other countries imposing subsidies to pay out farmers to help the problem (ie. US farmers get 31 cents per litre of milk). As well, Canadian farmers get a quota to how much product they can produce, so that really restricts competition in this industry.

This article talks about Canada's economic growth is better than what the economist anticipated. It reveals the economic growth is desirable for government, along with low unemployment rate. Consumer spending contributes to economic growth, the consumer spending is repressed while oil prices rise so high nowadays. Interest rates is one of the measures government take to control economy.

This is pretty neat considering it relates to people our age living in Canada (aka me!). The Canadian government, who have set a minimum wage of $9.60/h for youths and $10.50/h for those older than 18, have decided to subsidize part or all of the payroll given out by small business to their student employees. The purpose is to try and invest in student employees so that they get the work experience they need. Although not mentioned much in the article, minimum wage plays a big roll, as now it is the government paying for the wage they set themselves... perhaps there is a chance it will be changed in the future for this reason.

One topic we have discussed a lot in supply-side policy is the funding of education, and how increased funding can lead to more efficiency in the economy. However, after the Ontario budget, the government decided to freeze teacher wages to try to reduce funding in this education sector; which has created many problems in our province as teacher unions are now taking action, with the threat of a strike still being possible. Supply-side policy gone wrong.

Gone are the days when cellphones were a luxury, or a tool for a few business elite. They are now a normal and essential part of life - both in business and personal affairs. Many families, like mine, have done away with fixed line phones completely, and this trend is growing.

As many of us know, Canada has a great healthcare program that is provided by the government. The US, on the other hand, has opted in the past to keep healthcare a private good. The American goverment is now seeing negative repercussions of this decision, and this article outlines how they are thinking of modelling their healthcare system after Canada's by introducing government healthcare insurance. Although this may not completely eliminate private healthcare companies, it may discourage them for the reasons we learned in Week 12. This idea of reforming the current policies has stemmed from stories of families who have gone broke after needing emergency surgeries while not being able to afford insurance.

This article discusses the option and possibility of Private Jails coming to Canada. This is because there are so many prisoners who need to be cared for that the cost has risen by extreme amounts! The possibility that jails could become a private enterprise is a very likely possibility.

This article discusses the declining revenues of Connecticut's Gaming industry. As the demand decreases, the revenue begins to drop. The state is looking at new ways to gain revenue, including through online gaming, which a few provinces in Canada have already done successfully.

This article describes the cell phone costs that one small business owner is experiencing. These cell phone costs could be both fixed and variable costs - she still has to pay her basic cell phone bill no matter how many clients she has, so that cost is fixed regardless of output, in that sense, because at a certain rate the costs are constant. However, if she has a larger number of customers, and needs to call to deal with more of these customers, therefore going over her monthly plan limits, than the cost will begin to vary, so in that sense it is a variable cost. Overall, she needs to attempt to reduce this production cost in order to gain a better profit for her business.

This article discusses how the government is trying to deal with the greenhouse gasses that are having a negative impact on our environment. The governent is taking steps to promote the use of biofuel over ethonol by using tax subsidies....

This article shows an importance of price control on goods. Because of the high diesel and gas prices, people's life are being affected, in a negative way. First of all, people who own cars will fell the financial pinch, because now they spend a lot more on diesel. And lives will not keep running, in some contexts, without cars. And diesel is a fuel for heating too. Canada's winter is freezing cold, without heating, life will be miserable. To ensure people's welfare is protected, a price ceiling for diesel, in this case $1.44 cents per litre.