Virtual transactions and the taxman.

Publication of an Economic Note on supply management policies in the taxi industry.

Supply management policies, aimed at limiting production of a good so as to inflate its price, are familiar in Canada, due in particular to the existence of agricultural quotas. It is less well known, however, that the taxi industry is also regulated in this way, with similar consequences for consumers. Just as Australia and New Zealand eliminated supply management in agriculture, a number of cities (including Kansas City, Milwaukee, Phoenix, Raleigh and San Diego in the United States) and several countries (including Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden) have done the same in the taxi sector.

Getting informed on blogs.

Washington and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The speculators’s role.

Publication of an Economic Note on executive compensation policies.

Publication of an Economic Note on executive compensation policies.

Publication of an Economic Note on executive compensation policies.

Executive compensation has become a controversial issue in recent years. Cases of CEOs leaving office with large sums of money while the companies they led were in financial difficulties are regularly covered by the media and presented as proof that there is a problem. More recently, the economic crisis and government rescue of failing firms with public funds has justified imposing caps to executive pay. An internal managerial decision which traditionally was of relevance only to the administrators and shareholders of a given company is now being debated as a policy of interest to the general public. Is there a problem with the way executive compensation is determined?