Everyone claims to favour entrepreneurship, but politicians routinely propose various programs to help entrepreneurs, when they should instead concentrate on getting rid of policies that discourage them. Indeed, the empirical literature shows that interventionist policies are detrimental to entrepreneurship. The Austrian School of Economics has much to teach us about the kinds of policies that truly encourage entrepreneurship and wealth creation, and thus how to improve public policies in Canada.

August 25, 2017 | 39 min. 42 sec. | Isabelle (98,5FM) Interview (in French) with Mathieu Bédard, Economist at the MEI, about […]

The concept of trade balance.

August 23, 2017 | 17 min. 41 sec. | Québec aujourd’hui (BLVD 102.1 FM) Interview (in French) with Mathieu Bédard, Economist at […]

August 23, 2017 | 9 min. 20 sec. | Midi Pile (KYK 95,7 FM) Interview (in French) with Mathieu Bédard, Economist at […]

The concept of trade balance.

In order to justify the continued existence of supply management, producers’ associations state that they could not actually compete on the American market, and that without this system, they would even lose their shares of the domestic market. This Viewpoint aims to show that on the contrary, it is possible for Canadian farmers to be successful on the world market, without benefiting from such protectionist measures.

The cost of trade barriers between provinces.

Barriers to trade between Canadian provinces.

While all countries subsidize their aircraft industries at different levels, the Canadian sector has been making headlines recently. The massive help Bombardier has received sets a precedent, which other countries could exploit to justify heavily assisting their aerospace industries too, potentially creating a beggar-thy-neighbour dynamic. The scenario of a subsidy race in the aerospace industries of all countries is now a real possibility, unless there is a credible signal that such government intervention will be limited in the future.