Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

To attempt a comprehensive survey of the development and main problems of the Canadian federal debt may seem overly ambitious in the necessarily short span of an undergraduate thesis. But heated conflict over principles of fiscal policy which by and large determine the growth of the debt, and a more general lack of information on particular Canadian problems relating to it, make even a summary survey of some value: and this is all the more true in the absence of any great amount of literature on the subject. Canada's net debt of some eleven and one-half billions of dollars may be just another example of governmental inefficiency to the steelworker; the small businessman may think of it only in terms' of the larger taxes he must pay to take-care of the interest charges; and a financier, willing enough to accept past debt growth as an essential antecedent to Canadian national development; maybe just as unalterably opposed to any further growth. The fact that all these men lack a "rounded Approach'" to fiscal and debt policy is important. As voters, they determine the party in power in Ottawa, and so indirectly, the course of Canadian public finance. But more than a lack of knowledge or apathy on the part of the citizens justifies an attempt to treat some first principles; three trends, forming a significant part of the contimporary political scene, urge knowledge of federal fiscal policy, especially as it relates to the public debt. In the first place, the years since Confederation have seen a tremendous increase in the absolute size of the debt. The consequent growth of the interest charges, which form the real "burden of the debt", has proceeded at only a slightly slower rate. Were the national income to slump again as it did in the early thirties, it would prove even more of a strain on the economy to take care of the interest charges than it did then. We may very properly take an interest in the largest single item in the federal budget, especially one which can cause so much difficulty. Secondly, the present trend in the government towards what may be called an economy of "welfare capitalism" is a costly process. The increase in the debt that this may entail is worthy of careful study. Thirdly, the increasing favour with which fiscal policy called for chronic government deficits is viewed calls for a searching review of the economic reasoning that lies behind it, in the light of the continuing increases in the debt that it may cause. No attempt has been made to carry the topic beyond the bounds of the federal debt. The public debt of the various provinces and municipalities is both extensive and of complex structure, worthy of a separate study in itself; but it is not nearly so important in the aggregate, as the federal debt. Moreover, the limitations of space would prevent an adequate treatment of any part of the public debt, should we attempt to deal with them all at once. It seems both fair and reasonable, therefore, to confine the topic to the most important segment of the public debt, and deal exclusively with the Canadian federal debt. Whenever the phrase "the public debt" is used in the text for brevity, or to avoid monotony, it should be remembered that it is to this particular portion of it that we refer. Finally, all attempts at justification and apology aside, the author wishes to express his gratitude to those who so generously aided the completion of this work. To Dr. R.C.McIvor, of the Department of Political Economy, his thanks are due for much patient review of the rough manuscript, and far many helpful suggestions. The searching comments of his colleagues in the Honour Course, and especially of Miss Willa Harwood and Mr. John Panabaker, not infrequently spurred him on. Responsibility for the final version, must of course, be accepted by the author alone. / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>In In recent times, such phrases as, "Standard of Living" and "Purchasing Power", are on everybody's lips. And yet these everyday expressions have no intelligible meaning for many people. We find that in trying to clarify the concept of real wages, we soon get into enough statistical difficulties, to render the conclusion less positive than we had hoped, would result.</p> <p>We have attempted our study in the following order. First: An historical review of real wages in Canada, obtained from wage rates, weighted with the cost of living and adjusted for unemployment. Second: An analysis of "Earnings Among Wage-Earners in Canada", as published by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in Bulletin No. 33 of the census of 1931. Third: An attempt is made to relate these earnings to representative budgets for that year.</p> / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p>It readers derive half as much pleasure from reading this thesis as I have had in writing it, then it is possessive of some worth in spite of its superficial treatment of agriculture and the Canadian ecnomy. Time, space and training have placed a severe limitation on the treatment of a topic, which, if adequately developed, would encompass a goodly portion of the economic history of Canada and contemporary aspects and problems of the Canadian economy.</p> <p>In this thesis I have little more than traced in outline form the place of agriculture in the economy with the aim of providing a background to some of the long run problems of the Canadian economy posed by agriculture in order to suggest an agricultural policy which, in my humble opinion, could prove corrective of the fundamental maladjustments responsible for those problems.</p> <p>My thanks to Dr. R.G. McIvor for his patient supervision and expert guidance; to Miss Laura Freeman for her courteous assistance in the pursuit of periodicals and public documents; and to Miss Dorothy Tomlinson for her cheerful perseverance in putting this manuscript into readable form.</p> / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

This thesis clarifies, develops, and applies Brennan and Buchanan's concept of robust political economy.

The aim of this dissertation is to explore a number of issues in intergovernmental fiscal relationships in the United States. Three independent essays in the dissertation focus on three different issues of interest in public finance: the response of school districts and county governments to changes in state government grant allocations; political determinants of presidential disaster declarations; and the crowding out of federal transfers to states by private charitable donations with special reference to the proportion of federal welfare grants to all 50 U.S. states over the period 2005 - 2013. Results in the first essay show that decreases in real per capita state grants cause statistically significant increases in per capita property taxes in Florida counties and school districts. However, the effect is stronger for counties as compared to the school districts. Another major result from this study is that property taxes, a major funding source for public education, decrease when the proportion of the young in total population increases. This could have important consequences for public education funding. Results from the second essay show that during the sample period, from 2000 to 2013, the average number of days for presidential disaster declarations was lower when the president is a Republican and the governor is a Democrat. The longest time delay in presidential disaster declarations occurred when the president is a Democrat and the governor is a Republican. The study also provides evidence that the higher the incumbent president’s vote share, the shorter is the delay in presidential disaster declarations. Additionally, it is found that the more salient the disaster event is (as measured by the number of newspaper articles per day), the shorter it takes for presidents to declare major disasters. The third essay provides evidence that state-level charitable contributions correlate significantly with federal public welfare grants to states. An increase in charitable contributions leads to a decrease in the proportion of federal grants allocated to public welfare, controlling for political and demographic factors. The study also shows that the level of crowding out that occurs is significantly higher than that predicted by the previous literature on the subject.

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