Stephen Gordon on good and bad ideas to look out for
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty speaks with the media following party caucus on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Wednesday October 3, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Economists try to make a clear distinction between making positive statements (what will happen) and normative statements (what should happen). These two concepts are very different, and it’s a good idea to keep this distinction in mind when speculating about the budget on March 21. A few points off the top of my head — I’ll probably come up with more during the next week:
Good ideas that will probably be in the budget:
Good ideas that probably most definitely will not be in the budget:
Bad ideas that will probably be in the budget:
Bad ideas that will probably not be in the budget:
Wishful thinking: