Who was Barbara Mitchell?
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The Power of Comprehensive Policy Reform: Lessons for Ontario from Michigan

The Power of Comprehensive Policy Reform: Lessons for Ontario from Michigan finds that even though both jurisdictions were hard hit during the 2009 recession, Michigan has enjoyed a much more successful recovery in the past 10 years. Crucially, Michigan’s economic success coincides with substantial policy reforms, implemented in 2011, that lowered business taxes, increased worker choice, slowed government spending and reduced state debt.

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Fiscal Policy and Recessions: A Primer on Automatic Stabilizers

Fiscal Policy and Recessions: A Primer on Automatic Stabilizers finds that in 2009, during the last recession, spending on unemployment benefits by the federal employment insurance (EI) program increased automatically by nearly $5 billion—or 43.4 per cent—as unemployment increased.

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Property Rights and Prosperity: A Case Study of Westbank First Nation

Property Rights and Prosperity: A Case Study of Westbank First Nation finds that Westbank, a small First Nation in British Columbia’s southern Interior, employs a system of property law that allows band members to buy and sell real estate and generate significant revenue for individuals and the community.

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Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 Annual Report

Economic Freedom of the World: 2019 Annual Report is the world’s premier measurement of economic freedom, ranking countries based on five areas: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labour and business. This year’s report compares 162 countries and territories. In this year’s ranking—Hong Kong is again number one and Canada (8th) trails the United States (5th).

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International Student Assessment: Performance and Spending

International Student Assessment: Performance and Spending finds that increased education spending in poor countries helps improve student test scores—but in richer countries such as Canada, spending increases have little effect on test scores.

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Spending Beyond Our Means: Addressing the Root Cause of Alberta’s Deficit

Spending Beyond Our Means: Addressing the Root Cause of Alberta’s Deficit finds that the Alberta government spends 18.5 per cent more (per person) than the British Columbia government, and more than every large province in Canada including Quebec and Ontario.

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Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States: 2019

Measuring Labour Markets in Canada and the United States, 2019 finds that over the past three years all 10 Canadian provinces have underperformed compared to most U.S. states on key labour indicators including private-sector job growth and employment rates.

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