As the federal government sets out to “build, baby, build,” do we want to own or be owned?
As our new government pursues growth and a nation-building agenda, we should remember this lesson from history: too often, we build and invest, only to sell off our assets and resources to the highest foreign bidder, leaving us economically vulnerable. In this moment of extreme peril, SCP CEO Matthew Mendelsohn asks how we should “build, baby, build” in a way that doesn’t merely accelerate the trends towards consolidation of wealth and deeper economic dependence. Canada has everything we need to emerge stronger from this period of geopolitical disruption if we put economic sovereignty and broad access to wealth-building at the heart of our agenda.
Innovate? In this economy? With these profit margins?
Canadian businesses are immensely profitable, but businesses simply haven't been reinvesting in them. As Tom Goldsmith writes in Orbit Policy's Deep Dives, the financialization of Canada’s economy and the high levels of rent extraction that accompany it are barriers to innovation. We are impoverishing ourselves over the long term to support short-term financial gains. If we care about innovation and productivity, then we need to focus far more critical attention on corporate Canada.
The misleading use of per capita GDP: Numerators, denominators and living standards | Policy Options
Certain partisans have been citing Canada's performance on per capita GDP as evidence of a supposed 'lost decade' and economic mismanagement. In Policy Options, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work Jim Stanford deconstructs this arbitrary and misleading statistic. In the first of a two-part analysis, he explains multiple factors affecting both the numerator and denominator in this headline-grabbing number and how recent trends in GDP per capita say more about rapid immigration than about Canada’s overall economic health.
The perils of per capita GDP: No, Canada is not poorer than Alabama | Policy Options
Some business and political commentators cite a growing gap between the per capita GDP of Canada and the U.S. as evidence of Canada’s purported economic dysfunction. In Policy Options, economist and director of the Centre for Future Work Jim Stanford deconstructs this arbitrary and misleading statistic. In the second of a two-part analysis, he explains how Canada is not poorer than Alabama and how, despite lower economic growth per person, most Canadians earn more, live longer and fare better than Americans.
As Canada prepares for disruption and sacrifice, whose side are our leaders on?
In this election, Canadians are looking for a leader who will stand up to economic threats from our mercurial and adversarial neighbour. But how, Matthew Mendelsohn asks, will the ideas on offer help workers, regular people, not-for-profits and smaller and medium-sized businesses transition to the emerging new world order? Yes, Canada needs economic growth, but it needs to be the kind that enriches working Canadians, not just not just large financial and corporate interests.
Bank of Canada’s unproductive productivity speech
Social Capital Partners' CEO, Matthew Mendelsohn, reflects on the Bank of Canada's productivity speech and calls for need of fresh ideas, voices and questions.