![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/avril2005_en.jpg)
1-minute read
Reconciling profits and sustainable development: Industrial waste recycling in market economies
Most authors still believe that the search for increased profitability has traditionally been incompatible with this goal because it favours a short-term perspective in which manufacturers tend to lower their costs by dumping polluting emissions into nature. This view, however, is based on a historically inaccurate assessment. Not only are higher profits and a cleaner environment compatible, but much historical evidence suggests that industrial recycling is a long-practised, productive and, indeed, essential element of the market system.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/lepoint.jpg)
1-minute read
Les contorsions comptables des gouvernements du Québec
Confrontés au casse-tête budgétaire, les gouvernements successifs ont régulièrement eu recours à des contorsions comptables, à la fois dans leurs budgets et leurs états financiers. Pour son budget 2005-2006, le gouvernement Charest s’est donné un défi houdiniesque: remplir sa promesse de réduire les impôts, tout en accroissant les dépenses en santé et en respectant la contrainte du déficit zéro. Ce sommaire des principales contorsions aidera les analystes à vérifier, à l’occasion de la présentation du budget Audet, dans quelle mesure l’actuel gouvernement a renoncé à de telles pratiques.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/130405_en.jpg)
2-minute read
A Canada Strong and Free
We believe Canada has not yet reached its zenith – that the best is yet to come. And we believe that this will always be true. Canada is such a land of opportunity that the future can always be bigger, brighter, and better than the past, no matter how great our achievements have been. However, we believe that Canada is being held back by an absence of national vision and ill-advised public policies.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/lepoint.jpg)
1-minute read
L’effet bénéfique des nouveaux médicaments sur la longévité et la capacité de travailler
Bon nombre d’économistes croient que les nouveaux produits sont au coeur du progrès économique et que les produits novateurs valent mieux que les anciens parce qu’ils fournissent plus de «services» par unité de coût de production. L’industrie pharmaceutique est l’une de celles qui produisent le plus de nouveaux produits et qui font le plus appel à la recherche et au développement.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/avril05_en.jpg)
1-minute read
Should cigarettes be banned in public places?
Many governments in North America and Europe have moved toward a ban on cigarette smoking in public places, or are planning to do so. Defenders of this approach argue that second-hand tobacco smoke causes health risks for non-smokers, who should be protected through a ban on smoking in public places. This leads to major economic considerations. An economic approach is needed for a full assessment of the relevance of such measures.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/lepoint.jpg)
1-minute read
La valeur de la sécurité d’emploi
L’affrontement naissant entre le gouvernement du Québec et l’intersyndicale des services publics (CSQSFPQ- SPGQ) porte, outre la question salariale, sur les modalités de la sécurité d’emploi dont bénéficient les employés permanents de l’administration. Or, il appert que le décalage entre les salaires payés au public et ceux payés dans le privé est justifié en partie par la valeur monétaire de la sécurité d’emploi.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/mar05_en.jpg)
1-minute read
The economic costs of the capital tax
Imposing a direct tax on a factor of production such as capital is a way of taxing the very process of production and wealth creation instead of taxing individual income or consumption. This involves substantial costs in terms of economic efficiency, and it harms the competitiveness of Canada and Quebec.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/fev05_en.jpg)
1-minute read
Dairy production: the costs of supply management in Canada
International talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in July 2004 drew attention to the “supply management” model in agriculture. This model was first applied in Australia in the 1920s to protect farmers’ incomes against economic swings and lower prices for their products as well as to increase their power in relation to buyers. Supply management, which is held out today as an indispensable element of Canadian agricultural policy, is in reality a needlessly costly system, particularly where dairy production is concerned.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/janv05_en.jpg)
1-minute read
The perverse effects of anti-scab measures
In 1977, the Quebec legislature amended the Labour Code to introduce measures prohibiting employers at establishments affected by legal strikes or lockouts from replacing the striking or locked-out workers. According to the government then in power, these measures were introduced with the twin goals of preventing violence and making labour conflicts shorter. These arguments are still raised today, even though studies show that strikes have generally not been shortened.
![](https://www.iedm.org/uploaded/images/lepoint.jpg)
1-minute read
Le Point de l’IEDM sur les excédents budgétaires fédéraux
Le ministre canadien des Finances Ralph Goodale annonçait la semaine dernière que l’excédent budgétaire fédéral pour 2004-2005, que le gouvernement prévoyait être de 4 milliards de dollars, atteindra 9 milliards, soit le même montant que l’année précédente. Le ministre prévoit affecter une partie de ce montant au remboursement de la dette et le reste à de nouvelles dépenses, comme le réclament de nombreux groupes de pression. L’IEDM rappelle pour sa part qu’une baisse des impôts comporterait des avantages beaucoup plus significatifs pour l’économie canadienne.