Hot Topics in Economics

		Michael Burt  Associate Director Industrial Economic Trends

Nearly two years after the global financial crisis came to a head with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. has passed a regulatory reform package designed to prevent a crisis of this magnitude from ever happening again. The recently passed Dodd-Frank ...

		Glen Hodgson Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist

		Matthew Stewart Senior Economist National Forecast

The financial crisis and recession wreaked havoc on the fiscal positions of governments around the globe. Canada was not spared from the shock, but The Conference Board of Canada still expects federal books to be ...

Kip Beckman Principal Research Associate, Economic Services

The U.S. government recently stated that geologists had discovered close to $1 trillion in deposits of gold, copper, cobalt and lithium in Afghanistan. Could this discovery eventually help generate the economic growth, wealth and political stability that can finally lift this country ...

Kip Beckman Principal Research Associate, Economic Services

Desperate times require desperate measures—and for U.S. state and local governments, many of which are mandated by law to run balanced budgets, these are certainly desperate times. To close gaping budget deficits, some states are considering legalizing marijuana and collecting taxes on ...

Todd Crawford Economist Provincial Forecast

On April 20, 2010, an oil well blowout resulted in a catastrophic explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling platform roughly 60 km off the Louisiana coastline. The explosion killed 11 people, injured 17 more, and is now counted as the worst oil spill ever ...

Kip Beckman Principal Research Associate Economic Services

Soaring public deficits in Greece and many other countries in Europe has rendered policymakers helpless in their attempts to keep the global recovery on track. This has resulted in surging gold prices and volatile equity markets. In this environment, the best we ...

Maxim Armstrong Economist, Canadian Industrial Outlook

Demand for healthcare services is growing fast, and is expected to accelerate as the population ages. At the same time, provincial governments are now facing huge deficits, and as healthcare is the largest category of spending, it is more than likely that healthcare providers ...

		Mario Lefebvre Director Centre for Municipal Studies

The economic recovery is underway. Well underway. And the economic recovery train is travelling this country at a speed VIA Rail Canada must envy. From coast to coast, housing markets are recovering, consumer spending is on the rise, the manufacturing sector ...

Many governments have come out of the global recession with large deficits and growing debt -- but there exist green means to address these problems. While policy measures often imply a win-lose situation, a carbon tax could produce a win-win. It could help ...

Kip Beckman Principal Research Associate Economic Services

If you think Canadians were angry when the GST was introduced in 1991, wait and see how Americans, who hate taxes even more than us, react when the federal government is forced to implement a value added tax (VAT) of its own. ...