Textbook Costs and Post-Secondary Education: journalists ask the wrong questions | The Citizens' Press

The school year has begun for most of those going (back) to post-secondary programs and with it comes the barrage of 'news' reports on the cost of school supplies. What is really frustrating about these stories is the analysis seems to be that the cost of school supplies and living expenses is too high, but the same journalists writing these stories do not touch on the costs for education as a public service.

People-based economy at stake in battle over Uber-like services | What's Left

While private financiers and apolitical, middle-class thirty-somethings love to take Uber cabs because there's lots of cool buzz, governments and workers are not so enamoured. While it can sometimes cost less and seem more convenient, the 'disruptive' (illegal) practices of Uber have been shown to undermine regulation, eliminate wage floors for cab drivers, and encourage other exploitive and unregulated services.

New approach is possible and needed for social policy in Alberta

A new study by the Parkland Institute details the devastation to Alberta's social services sector following decades of experimentation by the provincial Tories. The main goal of many of these initiatives was to cut government spending on social welfare and offload provision to anyone willing to take them on – for-profit and not-for-profit organizations alike.

What's Left 2015-08-16 Volume 24

There are only a few macro-level measures that mainstream economists obsess over. These go in and out of style depending on the state of the global economy, and the crises currently at play. Currently, productivity is all the rage in the pages of political and economic journals and the finance press.