Chapter 7 of my open access textbook has just been released. This chapter focuses on homelessness experienced by racialized persons. A ‘top 10’ summary of the chapter can be found here (in English):https://nickfalvo.ca/homelessness-among-racialized-persons/ A ‘top 10’ summary of the chapter in French can be found here:https://nickfalvo.ca/litinerance-chez-les-personnes-racialisees/ The full chapter can
Continue readingTag: economic history
The Progressive Economics Forum: Electrification and Climate I: Scale of the Challenge
Many elements have to come together if Canada is to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. There is now a technical consensus that “electrification” – the replacement of fossil fuels with electricity as an energy source – is a necessary condition for decarbonization, and that electrification will require that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Anthropocene and the New World
In recent decades all but the wilfully ignorant have had to face two facts: that climate change is taking place and that it is the result of what we humans are doing. The term Anthropocene was coined in 2000 in recognition of that latter hugely important fact. When had this
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World
Book Review Adam Tooze. Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. Viking. New York. 2018 The global economic crisis is now more than a decade old, and is far from definitively behind us. Indeed, many fear, with good reason, that the recent, uneven and lethargic global recovery
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: An Analysis of Financial Flows in the Canadian Economy
An essential but perhaps overlooked way of looking at the economy is a sector financial balance approach. Pioneered by the late UK economist Wynne Godley, this approach starts with National Accounts data (called Financial Flow Accounts) for four broad sectors of the economy: households, corporations, government and non-residents. Here’s how
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rethinking the economics of extreme events
Review of Worst-Case Economics: Extreme Events in Climate and Finance by Frank Ackerman *** Long ago economics was termed “the dismal science,” but in recent years that title has arguably been passed on to climate science, with its regular and dire warnings that humanity needs to rapidly transition off of
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Rethinking the economics of extreme events
I was asked to review Frank Ackerman’s Worst-Case Economics: Extreme Events in Climate and Finance. I’ve learned a lot from his writing over the years so it was a pleasure to say yes. *** Long ago economics was termed “the dismal science,” but in recent years that title has arguably been
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: New book on Indigenous homelessness
I’ve recently reviewed a new book on homelessness among Indigenous peoples. The book, published by the University of Manitoba Press, was edited by Evelyn Peters and Julia Christensen. My review can be accessed at this link.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ten things to know about social assistance in Canada
I’ve just written a blog post about social assistance in Canada. Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Social assistance has two contradictory objectives: 1) to give people enough money to live on; and 2) to not give people enough money to live on. -Very few immigrants receive
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The introduction and evolution of child benefits in Canada
Allan Moscovitch and I have co-authored a blog post that looks at the history of child benefits in Canada. Points made in the blog post include the following: -Child benefits can reduce both poverty and homelessness. -When child benefits began in Canada after World War II, one major motivating factor
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: New book on the history of Canadian social housing policy
One of Canada’s foremost authorities on Canadian social housing, Dr. Greg Suttor, has just authored a book on the history of Canadian social housing policy. Titled Still renovating: A history of Canadian social housing policy, it’s published by McGill-Queen’s University Press and covers the period from the end of World
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Alternative Federal Budget 2017
This year’s Alternative Federal Budget (AFB) was released on March 9. I was proud to be the primary author of its housing chapter (that chapter is available in English here and in French here). The first AFB exercise began in 1994, with the first AFB being published in 1995. That
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Public Policy and Homelessness: The Case of Calgary
Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a blog post titled “Public Policy and Homelessness: The Case of Calgary.” Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Calgary experienced explosive growth in the size of its homeless population from the mid-1990s until 2008. -Though
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Social Housing in BC, AB and QC (1975-2015)
Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation is a transcript of a recent discussion I had with Dr. Maroine Bendaoud. His recently-defended PhD thesis looks at social housing in BC, Alberta and Quebec from 1975 until 2015. Points raised in his thesis include he following: -After Canada’s
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: How Housing Policy Benefits from a Socioeconomic Perspective
Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a blog post titled “How Housing Policy Benefits from a Socioeconomic Perspective.” Points raised in the blog post include the following: -Leaders in Canada’s non-profit housing sector should think beyond just housing, and think hard about the importance
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Do Calgary and Edmonton need more power and resources?
Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I’ve written a blog post titled “Do Calgary and Edmonton need more power and resources?” The blog post comes as the Government of Alberta considers the possibility of, well, giving more power and sources to both Calgary and Edmonton. Points
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Federal Income Support for Low-Income Seniors
Over at the Behind the Numbers web site, Allan Moscovitch, David Macdonald and I have a blog post titled “Ten Things to Know About Federal Income Support for Low-Income Seniors in Canada.” The blog post argues—among other things—that if the age of eligibility for Old Age Security were to move from 65 to 67, the […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: L’itinérance au Canada: Sa croissance, les réponses politiques, et le plaidoyer
Le 1er février, j’ai fait une présentation sur l’itinérance adressée aux étudiants du séminaire d’études supérieures de monsieur Steve Pomeroy à la School of Public Policy and Administration à l’Université Carleton. Le thème de ma présentation a été l’émergence de l’itinérance au Canada en tant que domaine politique publique pressant dans les années 1980. J’ai […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Homelessness in Canada: Its Growth, Policy Responses, and Advocacy
On February 1, I gave a guest presentation on homelessness to a graduate seminar class on housing policy taught by Steve Pomeroy at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. The focus of my presentation was the emergence of homelessness in Canada as a pressing public policy area in the 1980s. I discussed the […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Five Things to Know About Pre-1964 Canadian Housing Policy
On November 4, I gave a historical presentation on Canadian housing policy at the annual conference of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. My slide presentation, which focused on pre-1964 Canadian social history, can be downloaded here. Here are five things to know about pre-1964 history that set the tone
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