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| EST. READ TIME 3 MIN.Fraser Forum - February 1998: Canada's Health Care System: Ideas for Reform
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In this issue:
Don't Believe Everything the "Experts" Say About Health Care
by David Gratzer
Experts oppose the "user fee" approach to health care because they believe that fees deter people from obtaining necessary care.
How to Ruin a Good Idea-Lessons from the British Columbia Ministry of Health
by Cynthia Ramsay
The BC Ministry of Health has good ideas. But when it comes to implementing them, the Ministry seems unwilling to give up any of its control over the system.
Patient Empowerment in Europe
by Paul Belien
Here are how several European nations have tried to implement health care reform policies while preserving the quality and equity of medical care.
Controlling Drug Costs
by Bill McArthur, MD
Pharmaceutical costs have been escalating for years. While many nations have attempted to constrain their pharmaceutical costs, no solution has been unixersally effective.
Judging Health Care
by Owen Lippert
Why is it that governments ask judges to lead royal commissions on health care?
Do the Poor Have More Children?
by Chris Sarlo
The idea that the poor have many more children is false. If it ever was true, it certainly is not so in recent years.
Calm in Hong Kong
by Michael Walker
Hong Kong is calm in the face of the Asian monetary crisis because it has adopted a currency board; for every Hong Kong dollar issued, a US dollar held in reserve backs it up.
Is There a Youth Unemployment Crisis in Canada?
by Marc Law and Fazil Mihlar
These authors argue that the youth unemployment problem in this country is much smaller than we are led to believe.
February Questions and Answers
by Joel Emes
Recent research asserts that the governments of the industrialized countries are too big; how does Canada fit in?
Spousal Support-Heads She Wins, Tails He Loses
by Karen Selick
It seems that no matter what course a couple's married life took, the wife can always find some reason to claim spousal support. It's all enough to make this lawyer ponder giving up practicing family law.
The Ricardian Equivalence Theorem: Back to the Future?
by Marc Law and Jason Clemens
How a government chooses to finance its expenditures is irrelevant for real economic activity. This is important in the current debate about how to spend the fiscal surplus.
Let's Talk about the Weather
by Laura Jones
Should the latest weather events be blamed on global warming? Those familiar with the science of climate change are dismissive of the media hype.
National Income and the Ice Storm
by Filip Palda
The ice storm proves that Statistics Canada's measures of national income need revision.
Dividing Up the Dividend
by Gordon Gibson
Ottawa should phase out the CHST and lower federal taxes by the same amount.
Solving the Urban Drug Problem: An Agenda for a Rational Debate
by Patrick Basham
In many North American cities, substance abuse is public health enemy number one. We need a public debate about drug policy.
Monopoly and Telephony
by Mark Weller
Here's why government-erected barriers can prevent new technologies from developing.
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Jason Clemens
Executive Vice President, Fraser InstituteJason Clemens is the Executive Vice President of the Fraser Institute and the President of the Fraser Institute Foundation. Hehas an Honors Bachelors Degree of Commerce and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Windsor as well as a Post Baccalaureate Degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University. Before rejoining the Fraser Institute in 2012, he was the director of research and managing editor at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute and prior to joining the MLI, Mr. Clemens spent a little over three years in the United States with the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute. He has published over 70 major studies on a wide range of topics, including taxation, government spending, labor market regulation, banking, welfare reform, health care, productivity, and entrepreneurship. He has published over 300 shorter articles, which have appeared in such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, National Post, and a host of U.S., Canadian, and international newspapers. Mr. Clemens has been a guest on numerous radio and television programs across Canada and the United States. He has appeared before committees of both the House of Commons and the Senate in Canada as an expert witness and briefed state legislators in California. In 2006, he received the coveted Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 award presented by Caldwell Partners as well as an Odyssey Award from the University of Windsor. In 2011, he was awarded (along with his co-authors) the prestigious Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the best-selling book The Canadian Century. In 2012, the Governor General of Canada on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, presented Mr. Clemens with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contributions to the country.… Read more Read Less… -
Marc Law
Professor of Economics, University of VermontMarc Law, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, is a Professor of Economics at the University of Vermont. An applied micro-economistwith interests in regulation, political economy, and economic history, Professor Law's research focuses on the regulation of food, drugs, and advertising as well as occupational licensing laws.He has published papers in The Journal of Economic History; The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization; and The Journal of Law and Economics. He hold a PhD from Washington University at St. Louis and MAs from Washington University and Queen's University.… Read more Read Less… -
Joel Emes
Senior Economist, Fraser InstituteJoel Emes is a Senior Economist, Addington Centre for Measurement, at the Fraser Institute. Joel started his career with theFraser Institute and rejoined after a stint as a senior analyst, acting executive director and then senior advisor to British Columbia’s provincial government. Joel initiated and led several flagship projects in the areas of tax freedom and government performance, spending, debt, and unfunded liabilities. He supports many projects at the Institute in areas such as investment, equalization, school performance and fiscal policy. Joel holds a B.A. and an M.A. in economics from Simon Fraser University.… Read more Read Less… -
Michael Walker
Fraser Institute Founder and Honorary Director
Michael Walker was the executive director of the Fraser Institute from its inception in 1974 until September 2005. Before thathe taught at the University of Western Ontario and Carleton and was employed at the Bank of Canada and the Federal Department of Finance. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Western Ontario and his B.A. at St. Francis Xavier University. In 2016, he was appointed to the Order of Canada in recognition of his outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the country.As an economist, he has authored or edited 45 books on economic topics. His articles on technical economic subjects have appeared in professional journals in Canada, the United States and Europe, including the Canadian Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Finance, the Canadian Tax Journal, Health Management Quarterly, Weltwertschaftliches Archiv and Health Affairs. His primary concern as the founding Executive Director of the Fraser Institute has been to promote the examination and use of competitive markets as a method for enhancing the lives of Canadians.He is the co-founder, with Milton and Rose D. Friedman, of the Economic Freedom of the World project which is now a collaboration of institutes in 85 countries and produces the annual Economic Freedom of the World Index. The Index is one of the most widely cited such measures in the current academic literature.He is a director of a number of firms and other enterprises, including, Canaccord Capital, Mancal Corporation, The Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, and the owner of the Prado Verde Estates and Falcon MHP. He is a director of The Pacific Academy for Advanced Studies which organizes the annual Alamos Alliance meetings of the Chicago Boys who have been instrumental in the economic reform process in Latin America and elsewhere.He has received the Vancouver Rotary Club Service above Self Award, the Colin M. Brown Freedom Medal and Award by the National Citizens' Coalition, an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.) from The University of Western Ontario and The Thomas Jefferson Award from the Association of Private Enterprise Education.… Read more Read Less… -
Filip Palda
AuthorFilip Palda was a full professor at the École nationale d'administration publique. He earned his Ph.D. in economics at the Universityof Chicago. He wrote two books for the Fraser Institute (Election Finance Regulation in Canada: A Critical Review, and Home on the Urban Range: An Idea Map for Reforming the City) as well as co-authored three Tax Facts books and pioneered for the Fraser Institute, along with Isabella Horry, the survey method of estimating tax incidence. He was also the editor of five Fraser Institute books (Essays in Canadian Surface Transportation, Its no Gamble: The Economic and Social Benefits of Stock Markets, L'État interventionniste : le gouvernement provincial et l'économie du Québec, Provincial Trade Wars: Why the Blockade Must End, and The New Federalist), and the author of over a hundred Fraser Forum articles as well as the author of the Public Policy Source paper The History of Tobacco Regulation: Forward to the Past. He has written a dozen articles in the National Post, has published with the World & I, as well as being cover author for the Next City magazine. In addition to his work for the Fraser Institute, professor Palda was the author of more than 20 articles in refereed economic journals and was a high-scoring author on the RepEc website of economic working papers. He is best known for his work on exposing the self-interest politicians hold in crafting election finance laws and for his discovery of the displacement deadweight loss of tax evasion.Filip Palda, professeur titulaire à lÉcole nationale dadministration publique, a obtenu son doctorat en économie à lUniversité de Chicago. Auteur de deux livres de lInstitut Fraser (Election Finance Regulation in Canada: A Critical Review et Home on the Urban Range: An Idea Map for Reforming the City) et coauteur de trois livres de la série Tax Facts, il a en outre conçu, avec Isabella Horry, sa méthode denquête par sondage pour lestimation de lincidence fiscale. Il est également responsable de cinq livres de lInstitut Fraser Essays in Canadian Surface Transportation, Its no Gamble: The Economic and Social Benefits of Stock Markets, LÉtat interventionniste : le gouvernement provincial et léconomie du Québec, Provincial Trade Wars: Why the Blockade Must End et The New Federalist et auteur de plus de 100 articles de la revue Fraser Forum, de même que de larticle de la série Public Policy Sources intitulé The History of Tobacco Regulation: Forward to the Past. Il a par ailleurs signé une douzaine darticles parus dans le National Post, publié un article dans The World & I, et fait la couverture de la revue The Next City, dans laquelle il a publié deux articles. Plus de 20 articles de M. Palda non liés à son travail pour lInstitut Fraser ont été publiés dans des revues économiques à comité de lecture, et il est très lu selon les statistiques recueillies par la base de données en ligne RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) darticles en économie. Il est surtout connu pour avoir exposé lintérêt des politiciens à élaborer des lois sur le financement électoral et découvert la perte de poids mort causée par lévasion fiscale.… Read more Read Less… -
Gordon Gibson
Gordon Gibson was a Senior Fellow in Canadian Studies at The Fraser Institute. He received his BA (Honours) in Mathematics& Physics from the University of British Columbia and his MBA from Harvard Business School followed by research work at the London School of Economics. His areas of study included federalism, governance, and aboriginal/non-aboriginal relations. Mr. Gibson wrote Fraser Institute books and monographs that included, Plan B: The Future of the Rest of Canada, Thirty Million Musketeers, Fixing Canadian Democracy, Comments on the Draft Nisga'a Treaty, A Principled Analysis of the Nisga'a Treaty, Principles for Treaties, and Challenges in Senate Reform: Conflicts of Interest, Unintended Consequences, New Possibilities. In 2002, He was commissioned by the BC Government to design the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. His report was substantially adopted (with amendments as to size) and the Assembly process is now successfully completed. The Assembly architecture is currently the subject of extensive world-wide study as an innovative technique in tackling difficult public policy problems. His columns appeared frequently in the Vancouver Sun, Winnipeg Free Press and the Globe & Mail.He served as Assistant to the Minister of Northern Affairs, then Executive and later Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, and then ran in three federal elections. In addition, he was elected twice to the B.C. Legislature and served as both MLA and Leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party.… Read more Read Less… -
Patrick Basham
Patrick Basham teaches in the Government Department at the Johns Hopkins University. He is Founding Director of the Democracy Institute,a research organization based in Washington, DC. Mr Basham previously served as a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, where he is currently an Adjunct Scholar. Prior to joining Cato, he served as the Director of the Social Affairs Centre at The Fraser Institute. He has written and edited books, scholarly articles, and studies on a variety of domestic and foreign-policy topics, including campaign finance, democratization, education reform, obesity, political marketing, and the regulation of risk. A frequent media commentator, his articles have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, Sunday Telegraph, The Independent, Australian Financial Review, National Post, and Globe & Mail. Mr Basham earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Political Science from Carleton University, the University of Houston, and Cambridge University, respectively.… Read more Read Less… -
Christopher A. Sarlo
Professor of Economics, Nipissing UniversityChristopher A. Sarlo is professor of economics at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario, as well as a senior fellowwith the Fraser Institute. He is the author of Poverty in Canada (Fraser Institute, 1992, 1996), Measuring Poverty in Canada (Fraser Institute, 2001, 2006), and What is Poverty? Providing Clarity for Canada (Fraser Institute, 2008). Some of his recent publications include Understanding Wealth Inequality in Canada, Consumption Inequality in Canada: Is the Gap Growing?, Child Care in Canada: Examining the Status Quo in 2015, and Income Inequality Measurement Sensitivities. Professor Sarlo has published a number of articles and studies on poverty, inequality and economic issues relating to the family.… Read more Read Less… -
Laura Jones
Executive Vice-President, Canadian Federation of Independent BusinessLaura Jones is Chief Strategic Officer and Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), a non-profit associationthat advocates for 110,000 independent businesses across Canada. She is responsible for CFIB’s legislative, communications, research, and marketing functions.Since joining CFIB in 2003, Ms. Jones has spearheaded several high-profile campaigns on behalf of small businesses, including creating CFIB’s annual Red Tape Awareness WeekTM and Small Business Every Day Campaign. She has authored a number studies on regulation, including papers for the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Mercatus Centre, and CFIB.Ms. Jones has been providing advice to Canadian governments on effective regulatory reform for more than a decade served on several federal and provincial regulatory committees. Currently, she serves as Chair of the federal External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness. She is currently on the board of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and CFIB.Ms. Jones received her B.A. in Economics from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, and her M.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University. She and her husband live in Vancouver with their three spirited children.… Read more Read Less… -
Cynthia Ramsay
Cynthia Ramsay is a Vancouver-based consultant specializing in health economics. Her report for the Commission on the Future of HealthCare in Canada, headed by the Hon. Roy Romanow, is included in The Fiscal Sustainability of Health Care in Canada , a collection of essays published by the University of Toronto Press in 2004. She also contributed a chapter to Dr. David Gratzer's book, Better Medicine: Reforming Canadian Health Care , and she is the author of The Fraser Institute publication on natural health products, A Cure Worse than the Illness (February 2002) . As well, she authored Beyond the Public-Private Debate: An Examination of Quality, Access and Cost in the Health-Care Systems of Eight Countries , which was released in July 2001 by Western Sky Communications Ltd.In addition to consulting, Ms. Ramsay is owner and publisher of the Jewish Independent , formerly the Jewish Western Bulletin , British Columbia's only Jewish community newspaper. From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Ramsay was senior health economist at The Fraser Institute in Vancouver. She wrote the institute's study on medical savings accounts for Canada, co-authored numerous editions of the Institute's annual waiting list survey, and is co-editor of the Institute book, Healthy Incentives: Canadian Health Reform in an International Context . Ms. Ramsay has written numerous articles that have contributed to the Canadian health care debate and she has spoken to groups in Canada and the United States on the necessity of market-based health care reform. From 1990-1992, Ms. Ramsay worked for Statistics Canada as an economic analyst. She received her BA (Honours) in economics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and her MA in economics from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC.… Read more Read Less…
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