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1. ICBC 'fix' may be short-lived and costly

   The British Columbia government’s recently-released budget projects an amazing turnaround for ICBC—that the insurer will move from a $1.2 billion loss in the current year, and total losses of $3.4 billion over the last four years, to a ...

2. B.C. government’s ‘luxury car’ solution won’t solve the problem

   Todd Stone, B.C.’s minister of transportation and infrastructure, hit the news recently with his announcement that ICBC, the provincial Crown corporation that provide auto insurance, will stop basic insurance for high-end luxury cars ...

3. Canada can improve cost of doing business

   A recent issue of the Economist magazine showers high praise on Canada. It says we place second of sixty in the Best Countries index, second of 55 in the Most Reputable Countries ranking, and tenth of 163 in the Good Country index. We ...

4. Spending by stealth through tax expenditures in Canada

   Hardly anyone noticed when the federal government appointed a committee of economists, accountants and lawyers to advise it on tax expenditures. This is not surprising because few people understand or even care about them. But they ...

5. Baumol’s ‘cost disease’ applies to labour-intensive industries

   William Baumol will not likely win the Nobel Prize in Economics next month (the award will be announced Monday, Oct. 10). That’s a shame. Bill, all of 94, has written 40 books, seven while he was over 80, together with some 500 articles. ...

6. Homeownership in Canada—benefits and costs

   Encouraging home ownership may deter the labour mobility vital for a dynamic economy. ...

7. Market pricing should apply to parking in all congested areas in Vancouver

   Two cheers for the City of Vancouver for proposing market pricing for parking in the congested West End on the basis of an excellent staff report. No cheers, though, for developers and others who plead for lower parking requirements. But ...

8. A blueprint for avoiding financial crises

   Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, has written the most important book to appear in the wake of the financial crisis—The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy. Unlike others, King has ...

9. Who pays for the minimum wage?

   Imagine that you had no idea how you would turn out. You did not know your physical abilities, intelligence, family, or any other features that determine economic success. Behind this “veil of ignorance” you could not know whether you ...

10. Is real estate assignment, in B.C. and beyond, always bad?

    Daily newspapers have been full of stories about certain real estate practices such as flipping and shadow assignment of purchase contracts. The uproar has led the British Columbia government to appoint an advisory committee to examine ...