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November 24, 2020
  • Alexandre Laurin and William B.P. Robson examine a proposed revamp of the federal statement of operations that would highlight an “operating balance” in addition to the annual surplus or deficit and the resulting change in the government’s accumulated deficit.
  • The authors argue that the proposed presentation would move costs of federal employee pensions that were underreported in the past and are now coming to light “below the line”. Presenting an operating balance that does not include these costs, they say, could bias federal budgets toward larger deficits.
Alexandre Laurin

Alexandre is the Vice-President and Director of Research at the C.D. Howe Institute. 

As part of his duties, he leads the Institute's Fiscal and Tax Policy Program. 

William Robson

Bill Robson took office as President and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute in July 2006, after serving as the Institute’s Senior Vice President since 2003 and Director of Research from 2000 to 2003. He has written more than 280 monographs, articles, chapters and books on such subjects as government budgets, pensions, healthcare financing, inflation and currency issues.