Canada's economy could gain nearly seven per cent, or $210 billion, in real GDP by fully removing internal trade barriers between the country's 13 provinces and territories, according to a report published Tuesday by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). On average, the barriers are the equivalent of a nine per cent tariff nationally, estimates the report, which was co-authored by IMF researchers Federico J. Diez and Yuanchen Yang with contributions from University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe.
What does it mean for a neighbourhood to be poor? Since the 1970s, the UK government has regularly sought to answer this question by pulling together a range of statistics about the people who live there. The aim is to enable funding to be directed where it is most needed, and to make possible place-based initiatives alongside those aimed at individuals or households.
If we are to succeed in our mission to transform Britain and fight back against Reform, we must be bold and embrace new ideas that put more money back into the pockets of working people. One place we can start is by looking at ways we can abolish the outdated, deeply regressive, and increasingly indefensible council tax system. Created in the early 1990s and still based on property valuations from 1991, it bears little resemblance to the realities of today's housing market.
Productivity is a dull word of vital importance. Growing the measure of output for each hour of work is an economic secret sauce, enabling growth in wages and living standards over the long run without stoking inflation.
