January 2002

Features

• Parks in Peril?
  - Laura Jones & Sylvia LeRoy
  Why statements that claim that human activity is threatening Canada's parks are unreliable at best.

• Can Climate Models Predict Future Weather?
  - Willie Soon
  How accurate are computer-model based predictions? Are they really meaningful and reliable?

• Measuring the Regulatory Burden: The First Step Towards Accountability
  - Laura Jones
  BC's Liberal Party has made a remarkable promise: to reduce the regulatory burden in  the province by one-third within three years.

• The Dawning of the Age of the Regulator
  - Mark Neal & Jim Finlay
  Businesses are required to spend increasing amounts of time and money implementing rules. Welcome to the Age of the Regulator.

• Thinking Economically About the Risks of Anthrax and Smallpox
  - John R. Graham
  While anthrax and smallpox can be deadly, they are very different from each other. How should we manage the risk of their outbreak?

Articles

• Helping the Poor: What Doesn't Work
  - Chris Sarlo
  Two proposals have currency within the social welfare community but are rejected by economists as naïve and counterproductive.

• Budget 2001: Security a Smoke Screen for Higher Spending
  - Jason Clemens & Joel Emes
  In its first budget in nearly 2 years, the federal government announced spending increases and tax increases, but no debt repayment.

• In the Footsteps of Foreign Aid
  - Filip Palda
  How the recent budget supports Canada's failed foreign aid policy.

• January Questions & Answers and January Graph
  - Joel Emes
  A look at total, full-time, and part-time employment growth in Canada.

• The Fundamentals of Democratic Reform—Part IV
  - Gordon Gibson
  The best way to control governments is to keep them small.

• How the World Changed on September 11
  - Bill Emmott
  The transcript of a November speech from the editor of The Economist.

• Labour Costs in the Hospital Sector Revisited
  - Nadeem Esmail
  New data confirms what we revealed six years ago: hospitals are paying a hefty premium on the wages of non-medical support staff.

• The Futility of Selective Regulatory Reviews of Financial Statements
  - Neil Mohindra
  Should more resources go into reviewing financial statements?

• Free Market Reflections on the WTO Meeting in Doha
  - Owen Lippert
  International trade agreements are not about trade. They deal with what governments do to trade. The recent WTO meeting in Qatar proved no exception.

• Your Turn
  
  Letter to the Editor

Fraser Forum is published 12 times a year by The Fraser Institute, Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian economic and social research and educational organization. It has as its objective the redirection of public attention to the role of competitive markets in providing for the well-being of Canadians. Where markets work, the Institute’s interest lies in trying to discover prospects for improvement. Where markets do not work, its interest lies in finding the reasons. Where competitive markets have been replaced by government control, the interest of the Institute lies in documenting objectively the nature of the improvement or deterioration resulting from government intervention. The work of the Institute is assisted by an Editorial Advisory Board of internationally renowned economists. The Fraser Institute is a national, federally chartered non-profit organization financed by the sale of its publications and the tax-deductible contributions of its members, foundations, and other supporters.

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©Copyright 2002 The Fraser Institute; (ISSN 0827-7893)
Date of Issue: January 2002.
Publisher: The Fraser Institute
Chief editor: Michael Walker
Managing editor/Layout and design: Kristin McCahon
Art direction and cover image: Mike Miller Design + Art Inc.
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Media Relations: Suzanne Walters

 

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