P U B L I C F I N A N C E & F I S C A L F E D E R A L I S M
All four Atlantic Provinces face serious fiscal challenges. Public debt as a share of GDP is high, and debt servicing costs threaten to further constrain the ability of governments to keep taxes competitive and public services adequately funded in the years ahead.
Our work in the area of public finances and fiscal federalism draws on lessons from our own country’s history and other jurisdictions to identify successful strategies for public spending and tax reform that can help spur economic growth while improving the health of public finances. AIMS will also continue to be a leading centre for research on equalization and fiscal federalism.
POLICY PAPERS & OP-ED COMMENTARIES
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, this group proposed many original and helpful insights for public ...
Measuring Austerity in Atlantic Canada
Recurrent political debates about public finance often include exaggerated accusations of “austerity” when a government decides to reduce spending. Though the language of “imposing austerity” has found its greatest use in Europe, it is also found in North America and Atlantic Canada. But all reductions on government spending do not ...
The Size and Cost of the Public Sector in Atlantic Canada, 2015
Public sector employment is a major cost for provincial governments in Atlantic Canada. The Size and Cost of the Public Sector in Atlantic Canada, 2015 examines provincial public sectors in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. It finds that according to various metrics, the sub-national ...
A Good Problem to Have
St. John’s (NL), Halifax (NS), and Calgary (AB) – Provincial governments should begin examining what can be done to improve the stewardship of resource revenue in Atlantic Canada, a paper released today by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) says. Co-authored by Senior Fellow, Robert Roach, Research Associate, Jeff ...
Short of the Green: Golf as an Economic Development Tool on Prince Edward Island
Halifax, NS (10 February 2015): A new research report from the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS) shows that Prince Edward Island’s (PEI) golf development efforts, which were intended to boost tourism to the Island, were largely unsuccessful. The paper documents a number of reasons for the policy failure and offers lessons from ...
MEDIA MENTIONS
Manitoba should cut 36,000 civil service jobs, think-tank says
CBC News quoting AIMS President Marco Navarro-Génie By CBC News • CBC.ca, 07 March 2017 A Winnipeg-based think-tank recommends shrinking Manitoba's civil service workforce by about 36,000 jobs because it says the sector ...
Marco Navarro-Génie speaking with CBC News Manitoba
On March 7, 2017, AIMS CEO Marco Navarro-Génie was interviewed by CBC News Manitoba about the newly released study published jointly by The Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the ...
Jackson Doughart on Atlantic Austerity
On Dec. 9, 2016, AIMS Policy Analyst Jackson Doughart joined Jean-Albert Maire of Radio Canada to discuss AIMS's policy paper "Measuring Austerity in Atlantic Canada." The interview is in French ...
Patrick Webber on Austerity in Atlantic Canada
On Dec. 8, 2016 AIMS Author Patrick Webber joined the Sheldon MacLeod Show to discuss his paper Measuring Austerity in Atlantic Canada ...