While it may be a trivial point it is interesting to note the substantially different titles (and the tone) of the three major economic development plans for New Brunswick since 2002. In 2002, Canada was in the middle of the…
Continue ReadingThe lost Harper-Alward transcript (an exercise in wishful thinking)
From somewhere off in the distance… “Mr. Prime Minister, it’s New Brunswick Premier David Alward on the telephone”. PM: Groan. Put him through. Alward: Hello, Mr, Prime Minister. Thanks for taking my call. PM: Hey, David, do you want my…
Continue ReadingMunicipal politics matters – a lot
Some interesting drama on election night. Saint Johners voted for change in a big way. I think Mel Norton will be a good leader in the Port City. I have always felt that cities take on the persona of…
Continue ReadingShale Gas Development: The Twin Problems of Minds and Markets
99% of the space in the public square allocated for debate about shale gas development in New Brunswick has been used up by debate about the environmental concerns raised by the extraction technology. As I have said before, if…
Continue ReadingPrivate sector-led economic development
A few of us have been chatting about the limited mention of the role of the private sector in the government’s new economic development plan. There seems to be a lot more alignment and focus on government efforts but the…
Continue ReadingPost Script: Film industry in Atl. Canada
Here we go again. It seems funny to me that we can’t have discussion about this stuff without name calling. Just for the record I looked at the 2007 and 2006 I-O tables and the subsidy to GDP ratios were…
Continue ReadingThere’s not much business in show business
The following table shows the economic impacts of one dollar’s worth of exogenous industry output shock in the motion picture and related industries (employment effects are per $1 million worth of output). The latest data we have for this is…
Continue ReadingJulia and the battle for America’s soul
The Europeans are having an old fashioned battle over the extent of public austerity but I don’t get the sense it is some kind of existential battle. Most Europeans don’t have a hostile view of the state they just haggle…
Continue ReadingStill bullish on NB – shout out to John Oxner
My column today, entitled “Still bullish on NB” is somewhat inspired by John Oxner, who works for the provincial government, and has been reminding me of the importance of carrots versus sticks when trying to convince people of your point…
Continue Reading