Gregory C. Mason

Research and teaching in public-policy

Gregory Mason

The economy of useless things

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The robots are coming! The robots are coming! Many social commentators raise alarms about impending technology induced job losses. The vision is dire — professional jobs in accountancy, law and medicine are all on the chopping block in the face of technical change that threatens to turn humanity into couch potatoes on minimum income, binge watching streaming TV. This … [Read more...] about The economy of useless things

Structural approach needed for budgets

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This is the season for taxes and brave promises. Taxes are inevitable, but is it not time to ask our finance ministers to stop spinning fairy tales? On the left hand, many see government spending as good and taxes as financing the "essential" services of the modern public sector. On the other hand, those on the right advocate for reduced services and taxes, resulting in a … [Read more...] about Structural approach needed for budgets

Basic income, child benefits best bet to reduce poverty

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Poverty — especially child poverty — is pernicious. The latest research reported in Scientific American shows children born into low-income situations experience a range of intellectual deficits compared to their counterparts raised in homes at a higher socioeconomic status (SES). Poverty is also persistent. Children born to a low-SES family start the foot race of … [Read more...] about Basic income, child benefits best bet to reduce poverty

Revisiting Manitoba’s basic-income experiment

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There seems to be a persistent misunderstanding and mythology surrounding the Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment — or Mincome, as it came to be known. With the recent publication of a working paper on the Ontario Basic Annual Income and the universal basic income experiment about to begin in Finland, it is time to review Manitoba’s experience with a basic income, also … [Read more...] about Revisiting Manitoba’s basic-income experiment

University teaching methods mired in the past

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With the cessation of the recent labour action by the University of Manitoba Faculty Association, it is an opportune time to reflect on why the strike occurred. It is tempting to see this issue in classic Marxist terms, where the workers (faculty with salaries ranging from $75,000 to $140,000 per year) defend their rights against administrators who have been captured by a … [Read more...] about University teaching methods mired in the past

Fallacies in analysing the impact of gas prices

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Fallacies in gas price sensitivity Dec 27, 2017 Writing in the Financial Post, Terence Corcoran argues (read original article here) that gas prices have had no impact on the demand for gasoline.  He presents the proof positive as the following chart         This is a classic example of simultaneous equations bias, which typically occurs when one uses time series data to test a … [Read more...] about Fallacies in analysing the impact of gas prices

Forget rights,  focus on obligations

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Whenever I go for a walk, my feet each claim credit for any forward momentum.  My right foot says it has all the initiative and is the real driver for my progress.  It sometimes complains that my left foot just tags along, not doing the heavy lifting. My left foot replies that it plans where we should go and without its direction the right foot would carry me off … [Read more...] about Forget rights,  focus on obligations

Rescuing economy requires risk, individual responsibility

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So much gnashing of teeth has occurred in the last week as almost every pundit pours over survey data trying to understand what happened on November 8.  Social commentators and other shamans sift through the entrails of our culture trying to make sense of the unthinkable election.  Half of North America seems to be in grief counselling. The answer is much easier to … [Read more...] about Rescuing economy requires risk, individual responsibility