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Miles Corak Profile picture
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31 Dec 20, 12 tweets, 8 min read
I set up my website in November 2011, and have been posting articles regularly ever since, though with less frequency lately.

Thank you for being one of my readers, for using the information, and for giving me comments and feedback.

Here is a thread on the top ten posts of 2020
The 10th most popular post on my site in 2020 was one of a series that summarized the major messages of my co-authored publication on social mobility in Canada and the United States

milescorak.com/2019/04/15/if-…
The 9th most popular post on my site in 2020 was part of my @GC_CUNY @CUNYGCECON course "Inequality, Economic Opportunity, and Public Policy."

I'm so glad this introduction to economic theory and intergenerational mobility got wide traction.

milescorak.com/2020/03/19/int…
The 8th most popular post on my site in 2020 was a lecture on David Ricardo's "difficult idea", comparative advantage and the case for free trade.

This is one of the core principles of economics, and part of my @GC_CUNY course "Economics for Everyone"

milescorak.com/2020/02/25/dav…
The 7th most popular post on my site in 2020 was a profile of @leah_boustan, an economist whose work I admire.

Students were asked to interview the speakers @CUNYGCECON seminar series, and I conducted this revealing first profile as a template for others

milescorak.com/2020/02/10/lea…
The 6th most popular post on my site in 2020 is a personal favourite about how the "Great Gatsby Curve" got its name.

I tell the story of how @BarackObama White House got wind of my work on social mobility and used it as a powerful communications device

milescorak.com/2016/12/04/how…
The 5th most popular post on my site in 2020 was one of the first I wrote on #COVID19 and public policy in Canada, describing my return to Canada from New York City, and written while I was quarantined and just falling victim to this terrible illness

milescorak.com/2020/03/22/a-l…
The 4th most popular post on my site in 2020 dates back to 2012, describing differences in how unemployment is measured in Canada and the United States.

It got traction because it helped informed a debate in the Canadian @OurCommons

milescorak.com/2012/05/04/the…
The 3rd most popular post on my site in 2020 was about the inequalities #COVID19 reveals and exacerbates, and which appeared @TorontoStar

I was so pleased @BobRae48 @CanadaUN used the title in a number of speeches and media appearances, I think even @un

milescorak.com/2020/04/13/cov…
The 2nd most popular post on my site in 2020 is repeatedly a favourite, dating to 2012 it refers to a speech the late Alan Krueger gave @amprog, introducing the Great Gatsby Curve into public debate

milescorak.com/2012/01/12/her…
The most popular post on my site in 2020 describes the Canadian poverty line, a part of Canada's Poverty Reduction Strategy.

My work @ESDC_GC on this file is a career highlight, and I'm grateful this article comes near the top of @Google searches.

milescorak.com/2018/08/21/can…
Thank you for engaging with me on "Economics for Public Policy," and I look forward to another year of conversation about issues important for citizens that can be illuminated by economic theory and good data.

milescorak.com/about/

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More from @MilesCorak

Miles Corak Profile picture
1 Jan
I was gifted the first volume of @BarackObama memoir , and read it in four days.

Well, #APromisedLand solved a mystery for me, and raised the importance of a couple of things that I didn't fully appreciate about how we choose our leaders, and how they govern. Image
I have often wondered about this short 2014 newspaper clipping in which the reporter writing of @BarackObama taking a walk confesses:

"We have no idea why Obama referred to himself as 'the bear'."

Why indeed? The mystery is solved in the first pages of #APromisedLand . Image
"Bar", short for "Barry", @BarackObama's childhood family nickname is pronounced "Bear." Go figure. He carried this with him all his life, as quite naturally we all would.

But his mother asks him "Which kind of person do you want to be?"

#APromisedLand Image
Read 12 tweets
Miles Corak Profile picture
12 Nov 20
Ahh, one of those teachable moments.

Let's talk unemployment rates!

Here's what appears to be @OECD source for these @PierrePoilievre statements, which refer to September 2020 unemployment rates
(9 % for Canada and 7.9 % for US)

data.oecd.org/chart/6a2P

#cdnecon #EconTwitter
The October @OECD numbers for Canada and the US are 8.9% ad 6.9%, but interestingly note that @StatCan_eng reports 8.7% and @BLS_gov reports 6.9%

#cdnecon #EconTwitter
.@OECD is great for getting comparable statistics, and the unemployment rate is both an important headline indicator but also a tricky one because there are differences in how accepted definitions are operationalized by different statistical agencies

#cdnecon #EconTwitter
Read 14 tweets
Miles Corak Profile picture
11 Nov 20
A "Basic Income" means different things to different people.

At one end there is the @believeinsomeon unconditional cash transfer to selected homeless individuals: should benefits be delivered in-kind with conditions, or as cash with no strings attached?

forsocialchange.org/new-leaf-proje…
This is clearly targeted, not universal. And is a one-time benefit, not a permanent ongoing cash transfer.

It speaks to the importance of administrative simplicity in the delivery of social programs and of giving clients agency and dignity.
At the other extreme is the Alaska Permanent Fund, examined by @mioana , a universal, yearly, and ongoing transfer to all residents in the State.

marinescu.eu/publication/jo…
Read 5 tweets
Miles Corak Profile picture
23 Jun 20
.@StatCan_eng senior researcher René Morissette has written two very interesting papers on jobs, wages, and work-related benefits, offering insights and a backdrop that will inform our understanding of post #COVID19 jobs.

Get the summary here:
www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quoti…

#cdnecon
Whether #COVID19 job losses are temporary or permanent will be very important for the economic fallout of the pandemic.
@StatCan_eng finds:

"at least one-half of long tenure displaced men and women aged 25 to 54 saw their real earnings decline by at least 10% from the year before job loss to five years after job loss."

www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quoti…

#cdnecon
Read 7 tweets
Miles Corak Profile picture
9 Apr 20
In one hour @StatCan_eng will release the jobs numbers.

They will refer to one particular week in March, from Sunday the 15th to Saturday the 21st, and are a one-week picture, just a single frame in a movie that has now been running for more than a month.

#cdnecon #cdnmedia
The employment numbers will be an obvious headline, and there will also be a big jump in unemployment, but both of these statistics needed to be rounded out to capture the full extent of the #COVID19 fallout

#cdnecon #cdnmedia
.@StatCan_eng classifies someone as "employed" if they have at least one hour of paid work in an employer-employee relationship (self-employment aside), so reductions in hours of work, don't reflected in the employment totals

#cdnecon #cdnmedia
Read 30 tweets
Miles Corak Profile picture
24 Feb 20
In a few minutes @StatCan_eng will release 2018 information on incomes and the poverty rate, allowing us to update this picture and inform Canadians about progress toward the poverty reduction targets set by @SocDevSoc @HonAhmedHussen

#cdnpoli #cdnecon
@StatCan_eng @SocDevSoc @HonAhmedHussen .@StatCan_eng may confirm plans on how the poverty line will be updated, something that hasn't happened in more than a decade and probably leading the official poverty line to under-estimate the extent of poverty in Canada.
@StatCan_eng @SocDevSoc @HonAhmedHussen .@StatCan_eng has already signaled that some proposed revisions to the official poverty rate may indicate a higher poverty rate, others a lower rate.
Read 22 tweets

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