Economics

Wish I Were Here: Boredom and the Interface by Mark Kingwell

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Mark Kingwell is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, and Wish I Were Here: Boredom and the Interface is his most recent book.

I will openly admit I was punching above my weight class in sparring with this small, but mighty book. As the writer is a professor of philosophy and I have little familiarity in that field of study, I thought that I would, at the very least find some gems of inspired insight into this look at the modern world, written and released prior to the Covid pandemic.…

NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond by Jules Boykoff

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same day as I’m writing this review of Jules Boykoff’s NOlympians*, the CBC reported on the possibility of the Tokyo Olympics being cancelled due to fears over the Coronavirus. A microscopic virus may do what thousands of anti-Olympians want to do: shut down the Olympic games. Not just in Tokyo and not due to their dislike of sport per se, but due to what happens in the cities that host the games; cost overruns being the most obvious, displacement of marginalized peoples to build venues, athlete villages and hotels being a lesser-known one.…

The Age of Increasing Inequality by Lars Osberg

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Lars Osberg is a Professor of Economics at Dalhousie University with research interests in labour economics and income and wealth distribution. This, his latest book is subtitled “The Astonishing Rise of Canada’s 1%” which, in the last 35 years has seen a drastic increase in wealth, but not for the other 99% of us. I don’t have a background in economics; I’m doing well to invest any extra income I have.…

Looking for Bootstraps: Economic Development in the Maritimes by Donald J. Savoie

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In 2006, award-winning author Donald Savoie wrote a seminal book on economic development in the Maritimes: Visiting Grandchildren. A decade later, he marks his return to that subject with Looking for Bootstraps. Concerned about the region’s future, he sought to explore and explain the reasons behind its lack of economic development. The result will spark a much-needed debate about the future of the Maritime provinces.…