The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how connected and interdependent we truly are as a global community
I’ve been blessed with many great sports experiences in my life. Since I was seven years old, I’ve loved playing and watching sports. I enjoy many aspects of sports but what I love the most is the camaraderie. More specifically, it’s the sense of fulfilment that comes from being part of something bigger than myself,…
Some vital economic sectors require government support and protection in order to grow and mature and not be held hostage to foreign influence
An old and obscure economic theory should have shaped the Canadian response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Sometimes we need to go back to find the right path forward. The infant industry argument was first proposed by Alexander Hamilton in 1791. He made a case for the United States government to protect fledgling industries against…
Author Valerie Hansen demonstrates that the concept of international trading networks and linkages goes back a very long way
Valerie Hansen is an American academic who teaches history at Yale. She also writes books, of which 2012’s The Silk Road is perhaps the best known. Hansen’s latest book is The Year 1000. Provocatively subtitled When Explorers Connected the World – and Globalization Began, it’s a recounting of interconnectedness in the five centuries between 1000…
Who defines what’s essential and should thus be sourced domestically, even if it’s more expensive to do so?
Autarky is an uncommon word that’s become a lot more common lately. It defines the extent to which a country chooses to be self-sufficient, thereby abjuring international trade. Typically, autarky is seen as an impoverishing thing. And it usually is. But in the current debate, it’s a red herring of the highest order. In order…
The modern border is porous, malleable and surmountable. It’s not an effective deterrent for undesirable political, social, medical or economic consequences
What do the global financial crisis of 2008, climate change and the COVID-19 global pandemic have in common? All three catastrophic events have confirmed that they don’t build borders the way they used to. Today, national borders are no match for globalization. In effect, borders have been overpowered and outsmarted by globalization. There’s no denying…
Blame free-market globalization, and the accompanying wage stagnation and declines in middle-class living standards
Even Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters admit that he's impulsive and about as presidential as a bull in a China shop. In normal times, Trump would never have been nominated by the Republican Party and would certainly not have been elected president of the United States. But these aren't normal times. Far from it. After…
We’ve allowed market forces to replace a host of political-economic goals and considerations, and we’re far worse for it
Pax Americana, the long-standing U.S.-inspired post-war world order, is unravelling like a cheap carpet. Apart from catastrophes like Venezuela, Britain's chaotic retreat from the European Union, or the threat from President Donald Trump to pull the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, there’s the shocking rise of anti-western authoritarian regimes in Iran,…
The ties that bind aren’t what they used to be – at least for some of us. For others, they are increasingly intense
I’m old enough to remember when nationalism was viewed as a good thing. And I’m not just referring to my Irish childhood. In the Canada of 40 to 50 years ago, many high-profile progressives self-described as nationalists. People like former finance minister Walter Gordon, journalist Peter C. Newman and the luminaries gathered around the Committee…
Many thought his staunch nationalism would kill the economy and spark international conflict. They were wrong
“In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” U.S. President Donald Trump recently told the United Nations. His overstatement inspired some chuckles, to which he quipped, “So true. … Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s okay,” he smiled as the laughter grew, overtaken…
The former Conservative prime minister has advice for us on Trump, economics, immigration and more
Stephen Harper is back. After flying under the radar for the last three years, Canada’s former prime minister has returned to the arena, albeit not as an active politician. Instead, he’s a commentator with several messages to impart, all of which are packaged in his new book Right Here Right Now. Not everyone is impressed.…