The OECD’s Global Productivity Forum is like Coachella for economists (if all the acts at Coachella lacked diversity and all the concerts were played in the dated function room of a downtown Marriott). This year, the Forum took place in Ottawa, co-hosted by the Bank of Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada. The... Continue Reading →
Clamato: a briny blend of tomato juice and clam broth, that when mixed with vodka becomes “one of Canada’s top selling” cocktails. Clamato forms the foundation of a uniquely Canadian take on the Bloody Mary, the Caesar. The popularity of Caesars on Ottawa’s brunch menus is one of the few observable differences between Down Under... Continue Reading →
Each year, interns at Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program spend their summer collating and verifying information on the world’s near 8000 think tanks. Each of these think tanks is assessed, scored and ranked by a panel of nearly 5000 experts, and then compiled into Go To Global Think Tank Index. This year, top... Continue Reading →
Is there anything more frivolous than owning a high end bicycle? A watered down version of Chris Froome’s Tour De France winning Pinarello Dogma F10 will set you back about $15,000. You can buy a used bike from ebay that will essentially do the same job at a hundredth of the cost. Owning a performance... Continue Reading →
Canada's free trade relationship with the United States dates back more than 30 years. The CUSFTA (the precursor to NAFTA) was signed in 1987, reflecting a commitment by both countries to “promote productivity, full employment, and a steady improvement of living standards”. While not perfect, the benefits of this relationship are well documented, and for... Continue Reading →
Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Timothy’s World of Coffee, Bridgehead, McCafe. Canada’s coffee scene is dominated by half a dozen chains. Some are imported from the US, others are homegrown success stories. They each have a loyal customer base who dutifully line up for their preferred cup of mass-brewed medium, dark or coconut roast. Each... Continue Reading →
At its peak, Nortel accounted for about a third of the value of the Toronto Stock Exchange, employing nearly 100 thousand people worldwide. The telco manufacturer was enormously important for the innovation system, accounting for more than a third of Canada’s total BERD (Business Expenditure on R&D). Rocked by scandal, the Toronto based company came... Continue Reading →
Efficient production… is a result not of having better resources but in knowing more accurately the relative productive performance of those resources. Alchian and Demsetz (1972) “Management matters.” This is the key message that has been long coming out of the empirical literature on managerial quality for some time. Bloom and Van Reenen’s 2007 paper... Continue Reading →
Labour productivity grew rapidly in many OECD economies during the second half of the 20th Century. This was mostly the result of catching-up as nations adopted existing, but as-yet unexploited technologies. Once these catch-up wins were realised, productivity growth would revert. The rapid dispersion of information and communication technologies in the mid-1990s spawned a new... Continue Reading →
We lack, above all, the entrepreneurial initiative achieved by others, not because their people have greater potential than Canadian’s, but because their corporations and their countries have been forced to develop more vigorous responses by exposure to severe conditions from which we have been insulated… The generation of indigenous technology, and the relentless search for... Continue Reading →
TALES FROM THE LONG TAIL 