In this edition of Progressive Political Economy, Armine Yalnizyan, leading economist and Atkinson Foundation Fellow on the Future of Workers, reveals the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canada’s current and future economy.
Yalnizyan argues that it is impossible to return to a pre-pandemic economy due to the permanence of factors like sellers’ inflation that have led to a worsening affordability crisis. As a result, it is important that Canadians address this economic turning point with progressive policy solutions.
The Broadbent Institute and Perspectives Journal have launched Progressive Political Economy: a new video series that spotlights progressive economics and political ideas that push for a just and equal society.
Through interviews with Canada’s leading progressive economic thinkers, we lay out alternative approaches to orthodox economic thinking that have lent today’s inequalities and injustices. From broadly envisioned industrial strategy in the fight against climate change to episodic economic phenomena like sellers’ inflation felt by all during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Progressive Political Economy series brings forward debates and inquiry on today’s major issues while being grounded in working-class, social democratic values. Valuing people over profits, decommodification, and a political economy that works for the 99%, the ideas shared in this Progressive Political Economy series are a much needed counterweight to Canada’s business-backed economic discourse.
