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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5982.2010.01592.x Byline: John F. Helliwell (1), Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh (1) Abstract: Abstract. Increasing attention is being paid in academic, policy, and public arenas to subjective measures of well-being. This promising trend represents a shift towards measuring positive outcomes in psychology and greater realism in the study of economic behaviour. We describe the main measures of subjective well-being (SWB) and provide examples of policy-relevant research findings, including new accountings of the differences in individual-level SWB assessments around the world and across Canada. These suggest a consistent pattern of life circumstances linked to SWB and highlight the importance of social factors whose role has otherwise been hard to quantify in income-equivalent terms. Abstract (Spanish): Mesurer et comprendre le bien-etre subjectif. On porte de plus en plus d'attention aux mesures subjectives de bien-etre dans les mondes de l'universite, des politiques publiques et de l'opinion generale. Cette tendance prometteuse tend a accentuer un deplacement vers la mesure de resultats positifs en psychologie, et vers un plus grand realisme dans l'etude du comportement economique. On decrit les principales mesures de bien-etre subjectif (BES), et on donne des exemples de resultats de recherche qui ont une importance pour la definition de politiques, y compris de nouvelles comptabilites des differences dans les evaluations des mesures de BES au plan individuel tant de par le monde qu'a travers le Canada. Voila qui suggere un pattern consistent de niveaux de vie relie aux mesures de BES et qui souligne l'importance de facteurs sociaux dont le role est d'autre part difficile a quantifier en termes d'equivalence de revenus. Author Affiliation: (1)Canadian Institute for Advanced Research

In this paper we suggest an improved methodology for comparing the intensity of trade across and within national and provincial boundaries. Earlier efforts to assess border effects for provinces or for countries without internal trade statistics made fairly arbitrary assumptions about average distances for internal trade flows. We improve on earlier efforts by taking more complete account of the distribution of population within each province or country. Internal distance is estimated as a population-weighted average of intra-city and intercity distances as well as distances to and within rural areas. We find higher estimates of internal distances, and hence border effects, than found in previous studies.

The persistence of high savings-investment correlations and home-country bias in portfolio construction at the national level is contrasted with new evidence on savings behaviour in Canadian provinces. We confirm that national borders clearly divert flows of capital to domestic investments, but provincial borders have no such effect. In particular, while there is a significant correlation between national savings and investment, among provinces that effect disappears. We discuss the implications for interpreting the distinction between provincial and national borders.

Using a gravity model of 1988-90 merchandise trade flows among Canadian provinces and between Canadian provinces and U.S. states, this paper, building on earlier work by McCallum, shows that Quebec trades twenty times more with other provinces than it does with U.S. states of similar size and distance. Comparison with survey evidence shows that these internal trade linkages are far stronger than previously was thought. The possible implications for Quebec separation, and for international economics, are considerable. If more broadly confirmed, the results imply that the fabric of national economies is far tighter than that of the global trading system, even for countries operating without substantial trade barriers.

Internal migration in Canada since the 1960s has been characterized by a shift of populations towards wealthier provinces. This was equally true in the case of foreign immigration in the country. It was observed that such population influx hardly benefited destination provinces because of diminishing returns. The eventual convergence or reduction in disparity among provinces may have been partly caused by migration, which in turn was caused by regional disparity in income and employment.

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The MACE model of Canada employs a nested production structure in which there is a vintage bundle of capital and energy that is combined with efficiency units of labour to define potential output for given quantities of employed factors. The actual level of output is derived from an estimated utilization-rate equation, in which the ratio of actual to potential output depends on unexpected sales, profitability, and the gap between actual and desired inventories. Using this production structure, it is possible to attribute 30 per cent of the decline in labour productivity between 1973 and 1982, relative to a steady growth case, to desired substitution of labour for energy, one-third to unexpectedly low demand, and one-fifth to low profitability. The unexplained residual is less than one-fifth Of the 10 per cent relative decline in labour productivity between 1973 and 1981, almost one-half is due to factor substitution and the residual is less than one-twentieth. The macro-economic structure of the model is then used to trace the underlying reasons for the differences between steady growth and actual history. It is concluded that most of the changes in factor proportions, demand, and profitability in Canada were due to the changes in world oil prices and the parallel changes in inflation and real output in other industrial countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents minutes of the annual meeting of the Canadian Economics Association (CEA) on June 5, 1982. Discussion of the financial position of the association; Announcement of the results of the 1982 elections; Report of the managing editor of 'Canadian Journal of Economics' to the CEA annual meeting.

Abstract. Why have Canadian oil and natural gas prices been so slowly adjusted towards world levels, and what have been the consequences for rent distribution, patterns of energy use, and the aggregate inflation rate? An integrated modelling framework is used to assess the effects of alternative pricing proposals for the 1980s. The evidence indicates that for an economy as open as Canada's the inflation rate effects are relatively small. Distribution gains for Canadians outside the producing regions are seen in several cases to outweigh efficiency losses, and reasons are offered for the fact that lower prices rather than higher taxes have been preferred by the producing governments and firms. Some efficiency-increasing pricing and revenue-sharing strategies are assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. This survey is in two parts. The first part uses Johnson's own classification scheme to analyse his contributions to alternative approaches to balance-of-payments theory. Three categories are distinguished: the elasticity and absorption approaches, the Keynesian multiplier and Keynesian policy approaches, and the monetary approach. The second part of the paper deals with Johnson's contributions to six specific issues: the transfer problem, policies for internal and external balance, the role of gold, flexible exchange rates, the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, and world liquidity and inflation. A short concluding section evaluates Johnson's influence on the direction and content of balance-of-payments analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External linkages of the Canadian monetary system. Simulations of the Canadian quarterly model RDX2 are used to study the dynamic links between domestic monetary policy and international capital movements. Four distinct regimes are compared: rigidly fixed exchange rates with no sterilization, rigidly fixed exchange rates with 90 per cent sterilization, a pegged exchange system with rates variable between support points, and flexible exchange rates. Under rigidly fixed exchange rates, more than 90 per cent of any increase in the net domestic assets of the Bank of Canada ,is offset in the current quarter by capital outflows, chiefly in short-term form. With any degree of exchange rate flexibility this situation alters substantially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]