Mobility Of Capital In The Canadian Economic Union

"The approach taken in this monograph reflects a need to try to understand the Constitution in theory and practice. The study addresses the range of powers available to respective governments and then looks again at the limits to which governments have gone to utilize levers traditionally thought to be outside their responsibility - to see, in otherwords, whether the constitutional text can be circumvented by the actions of government. As well, the study looks at developing areas of controversy in the financial field to try to position the debate for the next amendments to the Bank Act. At stake is the use of vast pools of capital. It will be an area in which we may soon again see constitutional litigation."--Preface.

Essays on the relevance of the common market concept for economic policy in Canada - discusses the role of marketing boards in the agricultural sector, state intervention in commerce, labour mobility and capital flows; considers legal aspects and institutional frameworks of economic unions in the USA, Australia, EC and developing countries. References, statistical tables.

Although economic union and free trade among the provinces were major reasons for Confederation, the provisions of the Constitution itself proved defective in ensuring such an outcome. By the beginning of the 1980s, concerns were increasingly raised as to the state of the Canadian economic union. This document puts these matters in an historical context. It also provides an interpretation of section 121 of the Constitution Act of 1867, and includes a debate on economic union prior to 1982.

"This report relates the experience of four other federations-the United States, Switzerland, Australia and the Federal Republic of Germany-and the European Economic Community (EEC) to concerns about free movement of goods, services, people and capital in Canada"--Foreword, page vii.

This volume contains essays that analyze the importance of labour mobility to the economy and draw important policy conclusions. The first summarizes data on Canadian emigration to the United States and the characteristics of Canadian residents of the US. The next two essays look at emigration of scientists and economists along with the factors related to whether or not they emigrate. The fourth essay examines the decision by Canadians to obtain at least part of their education in the US. The fifth essay takes up the question of the welfare significance of the international flows of skilled labour and develops a theory relating the Canada-US income gap to a knowledge gap between the two countries. The sixth essay develops an alternative approach to the same issue, with a focus on entrepreneurs. It points out the links between the available supply of talent for entrepreneurship and the productivity of new firms that entrepreneurs create and highlights the important issue of different degrees of mobility among different types of people. The seventh essay studies the effect of cultural clustering on immigration decisions using a sample of Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development countries. The last essay discusses whether the North American Free Trade Agreement could be extended to cover free trade in labour.

For the nonprofessional reader.