High Speeds, High Costs, Hidden Benefits: A Broader Perspective on High-Speed Rail

High Speeds, High Costs, Hidden Benefits: A Broader Perspective on High-Speed Rail

February 23, 2010

Opponents of high-speed rail have a common thread in their reasoning. Trains are fast and enjoyable to ride, they say, but when scrutinized by rigorous cost-benefit analysis their high cost simply cannot be justified. Typical analysis considers benefits like reduced travel times, reduced congestion, and reduced pollution. We make a case that it should also consider economy-expanding effects like expansion of the labour pool and job market, and extension of the effects of major infrastructure across a broader region.

Santa's Toy Shoppe in the Creative Age

Santa's Toy Shoppe in the Creative Age

December 16, 2009

MPI researchers recently completed a comprehensive investigation of the operations of Santa’s Toy Shoppe, Inc. (STS). Located at the North Pole (postal code H-0-H-0-H-0), STS faces tremendous production challenges: their demand keeps growing each year with the world’s population, the complicated nature of some toys require long production times, they lack foreknowledge of the “must have” toy of the season (their collection of shopping mall “field agents” helps tremendously with collecting advance information on this), and they need to meet a very definite completion date.

Supersized and Precarious: The Service Class in Canada

Supersized and Precarious: The Service Class in Canada

November 16, 2009

Today, more Canadians are employed in service work than any other type of work. Current research by the Martin Prosperity Institute highlights the especially precarious nature of service work in Canada. Precarious occupations are those with limited job security, few employment benefits, a lack of control over the labour process, and very low wages. Service class work is characterized by each of these forms of precariousness.

The Great Musical North

The Great Musical North

November 12, 2009

While the public perception exists that Canada is a hot spot for music and musicians, a comparison with the global leader in music production – the United States – helps us to separate perception from reality. We find that Canada has considerably greater per capita musical activity than the United States in terms of record labels, recording studios, and licensing houses. But the United States has much higher-earning businesses that are more heavily clustered in fewer places – especially Nashville, Los Angeles, and to a lesser extent, New York.

Cities and CO2 - Bigger is Better

Cities and CO2 - Bigger is Better

October 14, 2009

New research from our affiliate José Lobo and his colleagues indicates that environmental protection need not come at the expense of economic growth, and vice versa. With each increase of 1% in city population, growth in carbon emissions is 0.92%. In other words, as population increases, CO2 emissions per capita drop. The relationship with economic output is even more significant: a 1% increase corresponds with only a 0.79% increase in carbon emissions.

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