Atlantic Institute for Policy Research Highlights
Economic policy commentary and research from the AIPR
Evidence-informed policy isn't that easy
Herb Emery
Posted: February 12, 2020 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Government , Social Policy
A version of this commentary appeared in the Telegraph Journal on Wednesday, February 12, 2020. It is reproduced here with permission from Brunswick News. Is public input displacing science? Next month, the Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship, an “all party” committee of the Legislative Assembly, will hold public hearings “seeking input on the use of pesticides, herbicides, including glyphosate, in the province”. The committee will make...
Evidence-informed policy is not that easy
Herb Emery
Posted: February 11, 2020 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Government , Social Policy
Is public input displacing science? Next month, the Standing Committee on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship, an “all party” committee of the Legislative Assembly, will hold public hearings “seeking input on the use of pesticides, herbicides, including glyphosate, in the province”. The committee will make non-binding recommendations “to inform lawmakers on how to regulate herbicide use”. When I lived in Calgary, political hearings like this...
Can Science Save New Brunswick?
Mara Mallory
Posted: February 7, 2020 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Social Policy , Government , News Releases
Two economists at the University of New Brunswick want New Brunswickers to start asking tougher questions about how and why policy decisions are made New Brunswick. Is New Brunswick making evidence-base policy? Or policy-based evidence? Dr. Herb Emery, the Vaughan Chair in Regional Economics and program director of the Atlantic Institute for Policy Research, and Dr. Ted McDonald, the founding director of the New Brunswick Institute for Data, Research and Training (NB-IRDT) are hosting a...
When labour costs outpace productivity
Herb Emery
Posted: August 7, 2019 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Manufacturing , Social Policy , JDI Roundtable , Regional Economics , Labour Markets
New Brunswick’s economy is sick. Since the 2008 Great Recession, New Brunswick has been plagued by a chronic condition called “Baumol’s cost disease”, caused by the double whammy of an aging population and sluggish business investment. We have fewer people in the labour force and our businesses either don’t have the confidence or resources to invest in productivity-enhancing improvements. The result? Labour costs are going up but productivity is not. While...
Research confirms cost-of-living struggle for Canadians
Mara Mallory
Posted: June 6, 2019 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Research Reports , Social Policy , News Releases , Poverty and Income
As analysts speculate on the inevitability of another recession in the coming months, new research out of the University of New Brunswick shows that many Canadians still haven’t recovered from the last one. A new study from the Atlantic Institute for Policy Research (AIPR) and the New Brunswick Institute for Data, Research, and Training (NB-IRDT), both located on UNB’s Fredericton campus, shows Canadian women, rural Canadians, and households with children have experienced a...