It’s now a trope to point out that the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. Populations around the world responded to the threat of COVID-19 by changing their behaviour and governments moved in to reinforce those behaviours with varying levels of “stay…

How should governments help the economy emerge from the COVID recession? Conventional responses are not designed for this – no amount of monetary or broad-based fiscal stimulus will open up middle seats on planes, eliminate childcare constraints on primary caregivers…

A separate Intelligence Memo summarized the impact on fictional families of the combination of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the boosts to the Goods and Services Tax Credit and Canada Child Benefit from February to July.

Canadian governments moved swiftly and massively to provide personal supports to Canadians during the COVID crisis. This Intelligence Memo looks at income from three families in February before the crisis hit, in April when generous federal and provincial supports hit their zenith,…

Ken Boessenkool is a public-policy economist with a long history in Canadian politics. Some of the facts marking the COVID-19 economic recession as unique are becoming clearer. Unlike past recessions, where job losses were concentrated in manufacturing and construction and most of…