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Welcome back to Fraser Insight, the Fraser Institute's U.S. newsletter.
| Issue 53 | October 2019 |
Welcome back to Fraser Insight, the Fraser Institute’s U.S. newsletter.
This issue is highlighted by our In Print section, which is chock-full of commentaries, blogs and op-eds covering a range of timely topics—the crisis in Hong Kong, energy markets, electric vehicles, climate policy and President Trump’s trade war.
As always, our In Context section features in-depth research and analysis. This issue is highlighted by the latest Economic Freedom of the World index (the U.S. has jumped to fifth, after years outside the top 10) and the Institute’s annual labor market study (Colorado tops the list of U.S. states and Canadian provinces over a three-year period stretching from 2016 to 2018).
The In Focus section showcases a new infographic about the labor study and a new video about a recently published report focusing on the economic empowerment of women.
We encourage you to share Fraser Insight with friends and colleagues by inviting them to sign up for Insight here. Visit our website, which serves as a storehouse for cogent commentary and in-depth analysis—all from a free-market perspective. Follow us on Twitter. Join us on Facebook. And check out the In Touch section for more contact info.
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| In Print: Commentary and Review |
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What The Handmaid’s Tale Can Teach Us about Gender Inequality
Fraser Forum, September 26, 2019
The Handmaid’s Tale, both the popular Hulu series and the classic novel by Margaret Atwood, has become a symbol for modern feminism and the global fight for gender equality. The story underscores the importance of granting all people in society equal access to economic freedom and other human rights. |
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Hong Kong Fights for Rule of Law—and More
Svensk Tidskrift, September 13, 2019
For decades, Hong Kongers have enjoyed the most economic freedom in the world. But economic freedom does not guarantee political or personal freedom, just like democratic political institutions do not guarantee economic or personal freedom. |
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On Climate Policy, Results Are More Important than Rhetoric
National Newswatch, August 16, 2019
I work on environmental and energy economics in both Canada and the United States. I’ve noticed that U.S. debates tend to focus on abstract principles— “capitalism versus socialism,” for example—whereas Canadians tend to put aside ideology and inquire about the empirical details. |
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The Ordeals of Canadian Health Care
Fraser Forum, August 16, 2019
When a Harvard economist describes getting health care in Canada as “ordeal,” we would do well to listen to what he says—and avoid imitating what Canada does when it comes to nationalizing health care.
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Trump’s Trade War
Fraser Forum, August 9, 2019
We’re at a stage where, in the reverse of what happened in the 1930s, a trade war seems to be nudging the world toward an economic slowdown.
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Why Rice Plays Texas, the Moonshot and a Very Big Public Good
Fraser Forum, July 19, 2019
The moon project was very much a public good. Use of the term “good” does not mean it was necessarily a net positive. No, the term “public good” simply means there were lots of beneficiaries who did benefit, who couldn’t be prevented from benefiting, but who didn’t help with the finance.
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| In Focus: Research and Analysis |
Economic Freedom of the World 2019
Hong Kong and Singapore occupy the top two positions in this year’s index, followed by New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Mauritius. This is a significant improvement for the U.S. from previous years, as it has rebounded back into the top five, after bottoming out at 16th in 2016. The 10 lowest-rated countries are Iraq, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Algeria, Sudan, Libya and, lastly, Venezuela. |
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Measuring Labor Markets in Canada and the United States
In the Fraser Institute’s latest study on labor-market performance, Colorado holds the distinction of having the most responsive labor market in both the U.S. and Canada over a three-year period stretching from 2016 to 2018. Joining Colorado in the top 10 are Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Nebraska, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota and Indiana. West Virginia is the lowest-ranked U.S. jurisdiction. The study uses eight equally weighted indicators—including the average annual total employment growth, average annual private-sector employment growth, average total employment rate, average private-sector employment rate, average unemployment rate, average long-term unemployment, average share of involuntary part-time workers, and average output per worker—to assess the performance of labor markets. |
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Gender Disparity under the Law and Women’s Well-Being
In countries with legal restrictions that prevent women from freely engaging in economic activity (owning property, opening a bank account, obtaining a loan, choosing where to work or whether to start a business), women perform worse across a wide variety of measures of human flourishing. |
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Technology, Automation and Employment: Will this Time be Different?
Western societies have exhibited a continuing worry that automation, particularly automation associated with artificial intelligence, will lead to massive unemployment and the impoverishment of large segments of society. In different epochs, technological change has triggered concerns and social protests. Those concerns date back to the early stages of the industrial revolution and the use of coal-fired weaving machines to automate textile manufacturing, and they continue through to the present-day and adoption of computerized algorithms that “learn” how to automate tasks through the use of data-driven “machine learning.” In fact, the history of automation affirms that concerns about technological change causing widespread unemployment are misguided. |
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| In Context: News and Events |
New Venues Illustrate the Institute’s Work
To make our research as relevant and accessible as possible—and to expand our reach—the Fraser Institute’s communications team is developing new ways to illustrate the important concepts explored by our scholars. The latest examples are a new infographic about our report on labor markets and an informative video highlighting key findings from our study on the economic empowerment of women. We encourage our friends and partners to share these in their circles of influence—and to subscribe to the Fraser Institute’s YouTube channel to stay up to date on all of our informative videos.
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| In Touch: Connect with Us |
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. To find out more, call (800) 665-3558 ext. 590.
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The Fraser Institute
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