gdp's Comments

Macleans.ca : For the good of the country, won't you please submit to Tony Clement's personal and intrusive questi

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:17:51 +0000

It's worse than that: the budget for the census is something like $500m. That $30m was the cost of mailing out extra forms.

Macleans.ca : Idea alert

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:13:25 +0000

See, everyone? It *is* possible to read first and *then* judge!

Macleans.ca : The Iowa car crop

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:13:13 +0000

Paul Krugman calls this the "Santa Fe syndrome" in that piece I link to below. People will jump on the most arcane, obscure and complicated model instead trying to understand the basic point.

Macleans.ca : The present and future of the census

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:55:18 +0000

"It's like working all your life at Volvo being focused on car safety and then learning that the next model will have no seatbelts because people in focus groups find them uncomfortable." That's a great analogy!

Macleans.ca : The Iowa car crop

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:02:24 +0000

No, it doesn't make it untrue. It makes it an unsupported assertion about something that is generally known to have been inconsistent with the data in almost all other contexts. The burden of proof is on someone who would make that case.

Macleans.ca : The present and future of the census

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:57:15 +0000

Exactly. After making such a big deal about State Coercion, will the govt actually follow through and enforce the mandatory short form?

Macleans.ca : The Iowa car crop

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:27:06 +0000

Do you really think that's the case here? What Krugman showed - actually, he'll tell anyone who listens that he borrowed heavily from UBC's Jim Brander and Barbara Spencer - that it is possible to imagine cases where govt intervention can be justified. He has since gone on to recognise that those conditions are rarely met in practice. If you think that this is one of those cases where they are, then you should explain why.

Macleans.ca : The Iowa car crop

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:07:33 +0000

You know, disliking an idea is not really the same as rebutting it. It's certainly not the same as understanding it. There's something about international trade theory that makes it especially difficult to understand; see Paul Krugman's "Ricardo's Difficult Idea." http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm

Macleans.ca : Of jobs and jets

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:54:38 +0000

Again, you're talking about a game in which aerospace firms are the only people who can win, and taxpayers can only lose. Mike Moffatt has a nice post on this. Those jets will be made with Canadian labour regardless of which firm does it. The only question is which technology will be used - and trade is just another form of technology. http://bit.ly/agoWlf

Macleans.ca : Of jobs and jets

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:50:52 +0000

Are Canadian firms explicitly shut out of this project? That would be silly. But if they're not, I don't see why this is a question worth worrying about. If the Canadian firm is the lower-cost supplier, then the Canadian firm is the profitable choice.

Macleans.ca : Of jobs and jets

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:07:00 +0000

Talking about securing benefits for businesses is the wrong way to think about it; the only people whose interests matter are taxpayers.

Macleans.ca : Of jobs and jets

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:59:41 +0000

And if other countries are willing to subsidise their industries in order to sell us things even more cheaply than we can make them, our proper response is to pocket the savings and say "Thank you very much."

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:44:16 +0000

Hah!. If you *really* knew me then, you'd know just how funny that was.

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:46:16 +0000

You know, for a lover of freedom, you seem awfully keen on enforcing petty, pointless rules.

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:58:37 +0000

ODCVI, class of 1980!

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:37:11 +0000

Could you explain it to Olaf? He seemed to not have receive the memo. Hence the explanation.

Macleans.ca : The census: power, knowledge, and role-reversal

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:35:06 +0000

Pro-intellectual integrity? I dunno. Has anyone ever called you 'autistic' because of your methodology?

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:11:37 +0000

Or even just go straight to the original post here: http://bit.ly/cZATA3

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:08:15 +0000

Oh, and nothing I write is 'for the Post'. Sometimes the Post decides to runs things from WCI, most of the time it doesn't.

Macleans.ca : "Worthless trash. Stop Wasting our time."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:06:30 +0000

I should remind people to click through on the 'read the rest here' link. By mutual agreement, the Post doesn't reproduce entire articles from WCI.