Three Steps to the Good Life
Flourishing in Canada: How to get the Good Life boils down to three core goals. If we can achieve these (not insignificant) goals, we’ll be well on our way to living, collectively, with dignity:...
Category: Blogposts
The Flourishing in Canada project presses for reform to policy and practice that directs both toward respect for human dignity and away from human greed. In our posts, we discuss the underpinnings of policies we recommend, specific policies themselves, and current events in relation to the themes and recommendations of the book. Here is where we expand upon the book that is soon to come.
What is an Economy For?
In a June 2010 article for the Harvard Business Review (“You Are What You Measure”), Dan Ariely refers to psychologists and economists who demonstrate that “h]uman beings adjust behaviour based on the metrics they’re...
National Loneliness: Conflating Independence with Autonomy
Loneliness is a complex experience spurred by a complex of factors. There are few among us who haven’t felt its ache. In Canada today, we’re able to connect virtually as never before, yet isolation...
What an Economy is For: Framing Policy Development
The years since 2007 have shown us flaws on our economic systems that were not being well-addressed even prior to the crisis of Covid-19. A “centrist” view that our basic model of mixed...
United Nations Calls for UBI
It’s time that all economies realize the value of universal basic income. It would not only make pandemics easier to manage but would provide all human lives with fundamental dignity and autonomy. “The spread...
UBI Works: A Canadian Initiative
UBI Works is a Canadian initiative to recognize the value and affordability of universal basic income. They note that parliament now has over 40 MPs in support of UBI and compile compelling research into...
Book Release: Flourishing in Canada: How to Get the Good Life
We are happy to announce the release of our book, Flourishing in Canada: How to Get the Good Life. We are grateful for reviews from Annelise Acorn, Professor of Law, University of Alberta Law...
System Deterioration: The Impact of Universal Austerity and the Requirements of Covd-19 Recovery
So-called austerity, the stoic injunction, is the path towards universal destruction. It is the old, the fatal, competitive path. Pull in your belt is a slogan closely related to ‘gird up your loins,’ or...
Who can manage their own lifetime risk – return of the $6 million dollar man?
If the German retirement system had added as many years to the retirement age as we added to the overall life expectancy over the past century, the official retirement age would stand at around...
Booming Surplus is a Sign of Economic Weakness
Photo Credit: Danilo Rizzuti at FreeDigitalPhotos.net We tend to think of surplus as a good thing. The term has a positive connotation and it is surely better to be in surplus than deficit. But...
Education: Metacognition
Image courtesy of Punaruangjan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Derek Bok There is nothing more important to the long-term success of a society than the quality of its education. No...
Our Malleable Preferences: Part 2
Photo Credit: Elle Neill at Naples, Italy It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest....
Beyond GDP: Lessons for Redefining Progress in Canadian Food System Policy
The Toxicity of a Hyper-Competitive Work Environment
Universal basic income can be the worst of all worlds - but ‘free money’ schemes do work
Correcting Capitalism: Changing Metrics and Meanings of Work among Japanese Employees
Loneliness During the Covid-19 Pandemic