POLICY PAPERS
From Tax to Security: an Alternative to Employment Insurance
From tax to security: an alternative to Employment Insurance – by Justin Hatherly proposes an alternative to the current employment insurance system that would discourage dependence on seasonal work, promote productivity and labour mobility, and end a practice that has damaged ...
What’s Still Missing From Your Wallet?
What’s Still Missing from Your Wallet by Marco Navarro- Génie is an analysis that returns to a previous study done in 2009, in which the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies examined the adverse effects of gasoline price regulation in Atlantic ...
Revisiting the Minimum Wage in Atlantic Canada
Legislating further increases to the minimum wage would likely worsen youth unemployment in Atlantic Canada. Evidence shows that minimum wages price low-skilled persons out of work and reduce the opportunity for training and experience among young people. Given these effects, ...
The Value of Tax Exemptions on First Nations Reserves
All Canadian provinces face mounting health expenditures, owing in part to the cost of tobacco smoking. Yet, tobacco sold on First Nations reserves is not subject to taxes, unlike off-reserve purchases. Even though exemptions are not enshrined in the constitution ...
The Benefits of Trade
The Benefits of Trade examines the economic argument for free trade, with an emphasis on the importance of trade for Canadian provinces. The author discusses international, interprovincial, and local trading relationships, explaining the benefits of free exchange for all three ...
Household Savings in Atlantic Canada, 1981-2015
Household Savings in Atlantic Canada, 1981-2015 discusses a low rate of household savings by Maritimers. While New Brunswick has an improved savings rate from the previous decade (following a modest upturn throughout Canada), Prince Edward Island’s household savings have remained ...
Platform for Nova Scotia
This Spring, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) surveyed dozens of leading minds in Nova Scotia about the province’s future. Respondents discussed their concerns about Nova Scotia, including low growth, decaying public institutions, and demographic stagnation. To reverse decline, ...
COMMENTARIES
Rigid focus on seniority hurts teachers and students
By Michael Zwaagstra (AIMS Fellow) Imagine you are a public school principal. You need to hire a teacher and you have two applicants who meet the basic job requirements. The first applicant has ten years of teaching experience and regularly ...
Beyond Meat should look…beyond meat
By Sylvain Charlebois (AIMS Senior Fellow) Beyond Meat lost almost $10 million in its second quarter, but it beat expectations on revenues. Regardless, Beyond Meat is now worth $14 billion U.S. That’s right, $14 billion U.S., and is Wall Street’s ...
Oceans of Opportunity
By John Risley (AIMS Chairman of the Board) *Atlantic Business Magazine, 31 July 2019 Breath-taking. Romantic. Destructive. Peaceful. Scary. Engaging. Frigid. Warm. Inspiring. Perplexing. Despite our close association with the ocean in Atlantic Canada, we know little of its potential ...
One Patient One Record: A Folly of NS Health
By David Zitner (AIMS Healthcare Policy Fellow) Is anyone surprised to learn that credit reporting agencies, Facebook, and retail stores scan many sources and gather your personal information? Although many people have several credit cards, several loans, and deal with ...
Hey Vegans, time to grow up
By Sylvain Charlebois (AIMS Senior Fellow) Vegan groups are using billboards these days in the Atlantic region to denounce dairy farming practices, and telling consumers that dairy is scary. Some of these ads show a picture of a young calf, ...
The junky science of ‘nudge-onomics’ is just another excuse for more government meddling
By Patrick Luciani (AIMS Senior Fellow) Over the past two or three decades, behavioural economics has become the rage with swarms of newly minted PhDs running experiments showing how inconsistent and irrational we all are when it comes to retirement ...
Why can’t we handle the truth?
By John Risley (AIMS Chairman of the Board) As I write this piece, the fate of Brexit is still in doubt. The current Prime Minister feels compelled to drag her country out of the European Union because of a referendum ...