Can cryptocurrency protect you from inflation? – Globe and Mail Op-Ed

People have many happy expectations of cryptocurrencies as they look for ways to conduct their financial affairs outside the traditional financial system. They hope that, as crypto and its supporting blockchain technology mature, there will eventually be no delays in settling their transactions, cheaper cross-border transactions and no pesky fees on bank accounts, among other advantages.

Many also imagine that crypto assets can protect them from rising inflation. That, however, is one benefit crypto assets do not offer.

Crypto assets such as bitcoin and ethereum and their decentralized blockchain technology offer the promise that, at some point in the future, it may be possible to price goods and services and have one’s…

William B.P. Robson – The Federal Gas Pedal Meets Bank of Canada Brakes

Canada Needs An “ip Box” To Spur Flagging Innovation

Alexandre Laurin – Pension-Related Tax Rule Changes for Budget 2022

While the West unites on Russia, the WTO stands on the sidelines – Globe and Mail Op-Ed

The multilateral trading order was in terrible disrepair long before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukraine war has made things much worse, adding tremendous stresses on an increasingly fragile set of international trade rules, personified by the World Trade Organization and the liberal trading order it oversees.

Some of these problems were exacerbated by almost two years of COVID-19 restrictions, causing the cancelling of meetings among WTO members, frustrating progress on several fronts. One example is the postponement of last year’s all-important 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (called MC12), which is now rescheduled for June.

Delayed ministerial gatherings and the need for virtual meetings are, in the end,…

The budget should think inside the box — the IP Box – Financial Post Op-Ed

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tables the federal budget Thursday. She should use the occasion to implement policies that would improve Canada’s lacklustre innovation. A useful step in that direction would be to announce that income from patents and other intellectual property (IP) will be taxed at a special low rate. Generally described as an “IP Box,” such an initiative would boost Canada’s flagging R&D spending, raise our low commercialization rate, and stem an outflow of IP profits to tax havens.

As I explain in a C.D. Howe Institute paper published today, two developments make this a good time for an IP Box. The first is an OECD-inspired international agreement that income taxed at a preferential rate must be derived…

Canada Needs an “IP Box” to Spur Flagging Innovation

An Intellectual Property Box for Canada: Why and How

On inflation, the government and the Bank of Canada are pulling in opposite directions – Globe and Mail Op-Ed

With inflation pushing 6 per cent, and federal debt up about half-a-trillion dollars in two years, Canadian macroeconomic policy is a mess. It will get worse. The Bank of Canada is moving to get inflation down – applying the brakes. The federal government’s budget this week will show tens of billions more borrowing and spending – foot firmly on the gas. Monetary tightening and fiscal excess prefigure a wild economic ride ahead. Perhaps a recession.

Saying “recession” might seem alarmist. The economy is on a tear. Employment is well above, and unemployment well below, where they were pre-COVID. Economywide spending rose an eye-popping 12 per cent over the past year.

The problem, though, is that this surge owes so much to…

Benjamin Dachis – Supply Constraints Drive Housing Prices Spikes

Kronick, Robson – House-Rich, Everything-Else-Poor

Auto Insurance Value by Province: Who’s Leading, Who’s Lagging?