John Lester is a Fellow-in-Residence at the C.D. Howe Institute. A former federal government economist, John Lester’s last public service assignment was as Director of Research for the Expert Panel Review of Federal Support to Research and Development. Since his retirement, he has authored publications on a broad range of public policy issues, including the use of fiscal rules to control government deficits, the burden of the public debt, tax incentives for R&D and other business investment, and tax expenditure analysis. John has also championed the use of benefit-cost analysis in evaluating business subsidy programs.