Ucalgary mpp week 10 reflection

Week 10 of UCalgary MPP 2023-2024 Class

Oct. 30 – Nov. 03, 2023; hard to believe that we are more than halfway through the semester. Discussions earlier in the week during my competitive policy elective were interesting as we delved into Amazon's Antitrust Paradox. Before I get into it I want to point out some differences between Canadian and American antitrust terminology

Country	Act Name	Enforcement Agency
Canada	Competition Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-34)	Sherman Antitrust Act (26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7)
United States	The Competition Bureau	Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Competition

Antitrust is a widely used term worldwide and the majority of people know what it refers to, but might not know its origin. Before there was antitrust, there were trusts. A “trust” is a group of firms or industries organized to concentrate power, and reduce or eliminate competition. The model developed in the 1880s, as John D. Rockefeller sought to consolidate his holdings across state borders by placing stock from different properties into a single legal entity known as a Standard Oil Trust. Standard Oil is known to be the first trust and grew to become the greatest monopoly the US has seen by the early 1900s. This was accomplished via horizontal integration in its early years of refining, then, in later years vertical integration. Thereby streamlining production and logistics, lowering costs, and undercutting competitors.

In 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the foundation of US antitrust policy. This legislation confronted the tyranny of monopolies head-on, championed by its namesake, Senator John Sherman of Ohio, who declared monopolies “inconsistent with our form of government.”

The interest in the trust question in the United States in the early 1880s helped to generate concern over combines (business combinations that reduce competition) in Canada. Despite a seemingly more profound preoccupation with antitrust in the U.S., Canada had federal legislation relating to combines before the U.S. The catalyst behind Canada's proactive stance was N. Clarke Wallace, a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). Following his role as the chair of a parliamentary committee tasked with investigating combines, Wallace was instrumental in introducing an anti-combines bill in 1888, which secured royal assent by 1889 (future blog post: How does a Canadian [Federal/Provincial] Bill Become Law).

We studied Lina M. Khan's Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox ground-breaking paper. Her main arguments:

1. Current antitrust regulations are ill-equipped for the digital age, where online platform markets operate on dynamics distinct from traditional markets.
   • Thereby we must reinterpret and revamp our antitrust laws to preserve competition.
2. Reform in the enforcement of predatory pricing
   • Advocating for more understanding of how platforms can use low prices not only to attract customers but also to stifle competition in both the short and long run.
3. Higher burden of scrutiny on vertical mergers (consider Amazon Basics)
   • Khan recommends imposing a stricter burden of scrutiny on such mergers, to prevent the amalgamation of operations across different market levels, which could potentially lead to anti-competitive practices.

While discussing Khan's paper I got introduced to Chicago School of Economics which is an economic school of thought, founded in the 1930s by Frank Hyneman Knight, that promoted the virtues of free-market principles to better society by increasing social welfare. Khan argues that Amazon’s tactics, while beneficial for consumers in the short run, may harm market health and consumer choice in the long run. This challenges the Chicago School's principle that low consumer prices are indicative of efficient markets and sound competitive practices.

During our PPOL602: Markets and Public Policy lecture, we started our macroeconomics discussion by focusing on key national econometrics, including Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Price Index, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), Monetary and Fiscal Policy.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the standard measure of the value added to national economy via the production of goods and services during a certain period. Types:

• Nominal GDP is evaluated at current market prices without adjustments for inflation or price changes over time (i.e. a snapshot of a country’s economic size in current dollars).
• Real GDP is the inflation-adjusted value which accounts for changes in price level and provides a more accurate representation of an economy’s growth and purchasing power over time.
• GDP per capita is a measure that divides a country's GDP by its population, providing an average economic output per person. It is often used as an indicator of a country's standard of living and economic prosperity.
• GDP growth rate is the percent increase in an economy’s production of goods and services from one period to another, typically expressed annually. It is a crucial indicator of economic health, signaling expansion when positive and contraction (or recession) when negative.

Price Index: weighted average of prices of a basket of goods and services over a period, often used to indicate the cost of living or inflation.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): Used to compare economic productivity and standards of living between countries, by adjusting the exchange rate between countries so that a basket of goods and services has the same price across borders.

Monetary Policy: involves the control of money supply and interest rates by the Bank of Canada (Canada's federal central bank) to influence the economy. The Bank of Canada aims to manage inflation (target 2%), control employment levels, and stabilize the currency or as their website puts it "We work to preserve the value of money by keeping inflation low and stable.

Fiscal Policy: refers to the government's (federal and provincial) use of its budget—through taxation and spending—to influence economic conditions. By altering tax rates (main government financial generation) and public expenditures, governments aim to adjust economic growth, employment, and inflation.

While monetary and fiscal policies are distinct tools managed by different entities within the country, their effectiveness in achieving macroeconomic objectives is significantly enhanced when they are employed in a coordinated manner.

During our capstone workshop series, we discussed research ethics applications. The university adheres to the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2 2022) for the ethical conduct of research involving humans, emphasizing respect, welfare, and justice. All human-related research, whether funded or not, must obtain approval from the University's Research Ethics Board (REB) prior to commencement.

There are two REBs within the University:

1. Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board (CFREB) caters to researchers from a range of faculties, including Arts, Engineering, Law, Science, and others, along with associated institutes, the Haskayne School of Business, Werklund School of Education, and Libraries and Cultural Resources.
2. Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board (CHREB) oversees applications from the faculties of Kinesiology, Nursing, and the Cumming School of Medicine, as well as any research using personal health information.

During PPOL 619: Governance, Institutions, and Public Policy lecture we spent the first 30 mins discussing the controversy created by Justin Trudeau's decision to exempt home heating oil from the carbon tax. Then discussed multilevel governance which is a concept in political science and public administration that refers to the dispersion of authority and policy-making across multiple levels of government and across non-governmental actors.

Type 1: This refers to a more static form of governance where jurisdictions are defined by territorial boundaries and responsibilities are typically clear-cut and stable over time. It is characterized by non-overlapping memberships, jurisdictions at a limited number of levels, and system-wide architecture that remains constant over time. An example of this would be the Canadian system, where powers and responsibilities are constitutionally divided between the federal and provincial governments.

Type 2: This type is more dynamic and fluid, involving overlapping memberships and jurisdictions that do not necessarily align with territorial boundaries. This type allows for greater flexibility and adaptability, as it can respond to complex problems that cross-cut territorial boundaries.

Then we discussed the various types of local governments as observed in Canada.

1. Municipalities:
   • Cities: Urban centres with significant populations and typically governed by an elected mayor and a city council. e.g., Calgary and Edmonton
   • Towns: Smaller than cities but still urban in nature, typically governed by an elected mayor and councillors. e.g., Canmore
   • Villages and Hamlets: Often the smallest units of municipal government, with a more limited range of services and smaller populations. e.g., Nisku
2. Metropolitan Areas:
   • Metropolitan Governments: In some cases, such as Toronto, a metropolitan tier of government is established to deal with issues that cross the boundaries of individual municipalities within large urban areas.
3. Rural Municipalities:
   • Counties or Municipal districts or Regional Municipalities: In some provinces, these are larger areas that encompass multiple towns or villages and provide services to both rural areas and urban municipalities within their boundaries.
   • Townships: In some provinces like Ontario, townships are a form of rural municipality.
4. Specialized Municipalities:
   • Regional Districts: Found in British Columbia, these are a federation of municipalities and electoral areas that work together to provide regional services.
   • Improvement Districts: Typically found in remote areas, these are a form of local government designed to provide specific services, like water or fire protection.
5. Indigenous Governments:
   • First Nations Reserves: Governed by bands or tribal councils under the guidelines of the federal Indian Act.
   • Self-Governing First Nations: These have negotiated self-government agreements and have a wide range of powers that can resemble those of municipalities.
6. School Districts/Boards:
   • Although primarily focused on education, school board members are elected, but no longer have power of taxation.

In our collaborative group sessions, we formed small think-tanks of 4-5 participants, dedicating a thoughtful hour to dissect how different tiers of governance could potentially shape the implementation and financial aspects of a federal pharmacare program.

*Photo: Aga Khan Garden at the University of Alberta Botanic Garden in Edmonton, AB, taken Sept. 20/2021.