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Progressive Economics Forum

The economic policy legacy of the Justin Trudeau Liberal Government, 2015 to 2024

I confess: I was disappointed when the Justin Trudeau Liberals won the fall 2015 election.  I was hoping for an orange break-through. So, it comes with some irony that I find myself defending the economic policy legacy of the Justin Trudeau Liberal government nine years hence. The acute drama that unfolded in December with the Finance Minister’s resignation ahead of a Skip-the-Dishes delivery of the 2024 Fall Economic Statement has been commanded by daily obituary writing by...

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Interrogating the ‘Vibecession’

There are encouraging signs that Canada’s economy and labour market are improving after a period of stagnation brought about by the Bank of Canada’s aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023. Newly released data for the third quarter of 2024 (July-September) shows the economy has continued to grow, albeit slowly. Consumer spending was the brightest light in the third quarter data: growing at an annualized rate of 3.5% (in real, inflation-adjusted terms), and constituting the...

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Report finds insufficient daytime options for people experiencing homelessness

I’m the lead author of a recent report, commissioned by Vibrant Communities Calgary, looking at factors associated with social disorder on public transit (including social disorder involving people experiencing homelessness). Here’s a ‘top 10’ overview of the report: https://nickfalvo.ca/report-finds-insufficient-daytime-options-for-people-experiencing-homelessness/

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What are Corporations Doing With Lender & Investor Funds?

In a previous post, I analyzed what Canadian corporations are doing with their profits. I described how across almost every sector of the economy, corporations are distributing more of their profits to owners than they are investing. In this brief post, I’m going to describe what Canadian corporations are doing with funds acquired through issuance of debt and equity securities. I will be using StatCan data on corporate issuances of long-term debt and equity. Unfortunately, the data...

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