AIMS On-Line for the end of April 2001
Here is what's new at AIMS this week
Incentives Matter: Equalization and Nova Scotia
The Liberal Party of Nova Scotia invited AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley to address its 2001 AGM on the question of whether or not the current federal equalisation programme is "fair" to Nova Scotia and what changes might be appropriate to improve the programme. In his talk, Crowley argued that the incentives implicit in equalisation had undermined provincial efforts to develop the local economy, frustrated efforts to make greater progress on achieving fiscal discipline, and damaged the link between taxing and spending which is at the heart of democratic accountability.
No province is an island in competitive climate
The 2001 Nova Scotia budget was, according to AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley, not progress in fixing the province's still daunting fiscal problems. The government has gone on a spending spree, abandoning all efforts at keeping its costs under control, and counting on new revenues to balance the books by the end of its mandate and bring in its promised reduction in income taxes. The problem with this strategy is that the rest of the world, including other Canadian provinces, have made much more progress than we have, and are now in a virtuous circle of tax reductions and increased competitiveness.
AIMS publication recognised as one of the “best books on Canadian Public Policy” in 2000
Retreat from Growth: Atlantic Canada and the Negative Sum Economy
AIMS On-Line for early April 2001
Here is a brief overview of just some of AIMS' activities and publications in the last few weeks
Municipal amalgamations in Atlantic Canada and beyond: Why amalgamate?
AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley on the Canadian and international experience with municipal amalgamations. He reviews the impressive quantities of research now documenting the failure to the Annual Meeting of the BC Municipal Finance Authority.