Business Conditions Monthly August 2023
In August 2023, the Leading Indicator in AIER’s Business Condition Monthly metrics fell sharply. While the Roughly Coincident and Lagging Indicators edged up slightly (from 75 to 83 in the former, and from 50 to 58 in the latter), the Leading Indicator fell from 79 in July 2023 to 46 in August 2023. AIER Business […]
Canada to be Short 3.45 Million Homes by 2030
The demand for housing in Canada drastically outweighs the supply. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has confirmed that fewer new builds are expected for 2024. In fact, the agency anticipates that Canada will be short by 3.45 million homes by 2030 – right on time. Better yet, the gap is certain to widen […]
The zero sum death spiral
What causes societies to fail? One possibility is that they enter a zero sum death spiral. Here’s the basic problem: 1. Zero sum thinking causes bad economic policies. 2. Bad economic policies cause a poor economic outcome. 3. A poor economic outcome causes zero sum thinking. Rinse and repeat. I’ve always been aware of the […]
How carbon prices are taking over the world
IF GLOBAL WARMING is to be limited, the world must forget about fossil fuels as fast as possible—that much almost everyone agrees upon. How to do so is the complicated part. Economists have long favoured putting a price on carbon, a mechanism that Europe introduced in 2005. Doing so allows the market to identify the […]
