The roles of employees and their required skills are also changing. And policy-makers face critical new challenges
Corporations evolve a lot differently today than the world’s most valuable companies did 50 years ago. The changes are a result of widespread disruption. Apple became the first company to reach a market capitalization of US$1 trillion. The other three most valuable companies today are Amazon, Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft. Their principal assets are patents,…
Things inevitably go off the rails when government gets involved in the marketplace
I believe that the market is the best system for allocating goods and services in an economy. (I also believe that in a country as rich as Canada no one should have to go cold or hungry, but that’s another subject.) There are many who would disagree, giving governments – through laws, regulation or fiat…
The rise of the intangible economy has upset the industrial applecart, rendering many basic assumptions redundant
A recent New York Times article (6 Reasons That Pay Has Lagged Behind U.S. Job Growth) highlights a great mystery: persistent wage stagnation. As the U.S. job market tightens, economic theory suggests wages should rise – it's all about supply and demand. Problem is, wages in the U.S. have largely been flat for decades. Many…
The gift shop at the Toronto exhibit offers a swath of overpriced items. What would the ultra left-wing artist think of that?
There’s always been an understood link between art and capitalism. Even artists who reject the very nature of capitalism will still be part of this process, whether they like it or not. This includes the popular, controversial and mysterious graffiti artist known as Banksy. A product of Bristol, England’s underground scene, this person’s name and…
The science, culture and philosophy of the West have been embraced around the world. And millions still flock to our shores
“An anthropologist is someone who respects the distinctive values of every culture but his own. We in the West are all anthropologists now.” – Roger Kimball, The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of America Soon after arriving at McGill University in 1968 from a year of ethnographic field research in Iran,…
On the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, let's admit Marxism has nothing useful to say to the modern world
Karl Marx is buried in England, in the north London suburb of Highgate. I know that because I came across his grave in the summer of 1964. Topped by a large bronze bust on a marble pedestal, the tomb is hard to miss. And although you might think of Marx as a quaint figure, you’d…
A visiting professor to Lithuania discovers a generation of bright, committed and principled students who aspire to change their world
University professors have a unique, daunting and exciting responsibility. They’re tasked with educating, empowering and inspiring the next generation of leaders. And not just our next political leaders. I’m also referring to the next generation of leaders in all fields of human endeavour. In the arts and sciences, in business and technology, in agriculture and…
China is conquering the world by creating money when it needs it and simply absorbing debt. Perhaps we should be copying them
The United States military believes we're losing the Third World War to China. According to U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, not only has that war started, but it’s unlike any conflict in history. “When it comes to China, the bottom line there is the chequebook,” he says. According to military leaders, this…
As the taxi industry faces off with Uber, governments should let the marketplace sort out the winners and losers
What do creation, destruction, sharing and profit have in common? When it comes to the sharing economy, the answer is everything. In slightly over a decade, Uber and Lyft have gone from San Francisco startups to worldwide juggernauts. Their march to becoming international multibillion-dollar companies has sometimes met fierce resistance from taxi companies and community…
The parallels between Russia more than 20 years ago and the United States today are deeply disturbing
When the horrible first reports of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., began hitting my smartphone feed, I somehow involuntarily reconnected with feelings that I associate with the societal chaos I experienced working in Russia more than 20 years ago. It was the post-Mikhail Gorbachev era, when communism had…
Corporations evolve a lot differently today than the world’s most valuable companies did 50 years ago. The changes are a result of widespread disruption. Apple became the first company to reach a market capitalization of US$1 trillion. The other three most valuable companies today are Amazon, Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft. Their principal assets are patents,…
