Annual housing starts in New Brunswick dropped by between 30% and 45% between 2015 and 2019 compared to previous periods. The good news is that 2020 saw a rebound. This at a time when population growth was starting to take…
Continue ReadingTop down or bottom up? Two different approaches to economic development.
I get a fair amount of questions from reporters and others about the impact of federal fiscal policy, the role of monetary policy to shore up the economy or the impact of governments running large fiscal deficits. Sometimes I get…
Continue ReadingThe cool kids are all over on Substack. I guess I should be there too.
The cool kids are all over on Substack so I have decided to take the plunge. Most people don’t realize that I have been writing the It’s the Economy, Stupid! blog for over 16 years. I started writing in 2004…
Continue ReadingWill Shawn Graham’s 2026 population target actually be reached?
One of the things I (and many others) complain about is government ‘targets’. I am concerned about economic and demographic targets but this applies to any target set by government (e.g. we will reduce surgery wait times by x). I…
Continue ReadingA tip of the hat to entrepreneurship: Where is the next Wes Armour?
I used to say there are two kinds of entrepreneurs: a) someone with an idea who becomes an entrepreneur or b) an entrepreneur who goes out and finds a good idea. My former boss at ShiftCentral, Mario Theriault, was the…
Continue ReadingToday’s New Brunswick youth: Few, footloose and fancy free (and Campbell’s 1.5 Principle)
The former head of Opportunities New Brunswick, Stephen Lund, wasn’t particularly interested in demographics when he first took the job at ONB. At our first meeting after I joined the Jobs Board he told me it wasn’t his business. His…
Continue ReadingThe importance of NB airports will rise post-pandemic
A few years ago I was asked to a meet with a client in downtown Toronto. The meeting took place at 9 am. I left on the 5:30 am flight from Moncton, arrived at the airport in Mississauga at 6:30…
Continue ReadingPopulation growth: The one time I’m glad Statistics Canada got it wrong
I spend a lot of time roaming around Statistics Canada’s website and data. In fact, it is critical to my consulting practice (thanks guys!). However, occasionally they do make mistakes. I have found instances where the data seemed a little…
Continue ReadingInstead of snarky tweets, why not do something good with your time?
I don’t usually follow threads on social media but someone I appreciate posted something that I would describe as moderately controversial a few days ago and they got over 10,000 tweeted responses. So, bracing myself, I started to read the…
Continue ReadingShould we be striving for inclusive and sustainable economic growth?
Of the (limited) negative comments I get to my writing on this blog, probably the top theme is a condemnation of my obsession with economic growth. Even when I was Chief Economist in government, I would have colleagues questioning why…
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