Where is the gold in equalization pot?
In this column from the National Post, William Watson considers the message delivered by Nobel Laureate James Buchanan at a conference hosted by AIMS, the Montreal Economic Institute and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. Held in Montreal on October 25, 2001, the conference considered whether equalization is really a helping hand or simply a welfare trap for provinces. After considering Buchanan’s fears that equalization programmes can be captured and destroyed by politics and bad design, Watson observes that, “If equalization weren't already in place, perhaps we wouldn't feel the need to invent it.” Publication: NP, October 27, 2001
Do equalization payments exist to keep poor in their place?
This is just one of the provoking questions that was raised during "Equalization: Welfare Trap or Helping Hand?" a conference sponsored by the Montreal Economic Institute, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal. This article from the Montreal Gazette discusses why Nobel laureate James Buchanan and a room full of senior economists called equalisation a bribe. Exploring the idea that, without this money, thousands more from Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and the rest would flood into Toronto and Calgary creating bigger cities, concentrating the money and skill needed for excellence, and world-class competitiveness
Interview with James Buchanan, 1986 Nobel Prize Winner in Economics
James Buchanan was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on the public choice theory of economics. As his early writings were highly influential in the design of equalization programmes such as Canada’s, Buchanan is known as one of the “fathers of equalization”. His more recent work has highlighted the possibility that equalization programmes can be captured and destroyed by politics and bad design. He spoke at a conference on equalization co-sponsored by the Montreal Economic Institute, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Montreal on October 25th, 2001. Following this conference he sat down for an interview to discuss his changed perspectives on equalization.
East Coast must pull its weight: Buchanan ’86 Nobel Prize laureate says
James Buchanan, 1986 Nobel Prize laureate and pioneer of the "public choice" school of economics believes that the East Coast energy boom has given Canada a golden opportunity to reduce the distortions caused by equalization payments. Buchanan, of Virginia's George Mason University, was speaking after addressing a seminar "Equalization: Welfare Trap or Helping Hand?" sponsored by the Montreal Economic Institute, the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal. Buchanan’s remarks were reported in this article from the Financial Post. The government's equalization system may have brought benefits over the past 40 years, he said, but "it's time to wean the Atlantic area off transfer payments and make the receiving provinces and their taxpayers face their full responsibilities and spend less of the richer provinces' money."
Equalisation: Welfare Trap or Helping Hand?
James Buchanan, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics revisited the case for equalising grants during a luncheon conference at the University Club in Montreal
Equalization programmes can be destroyed by politics and design flaws
Nobel laureate James Buchanan took this opportunity to revisit his arguments of 50 years before. He said that he didn’t take enough account of how political interference with the operations of such programmes can outweigh the good intentions behind them.