POLI 319 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Henri Bourassa, Rent-Seeking, Private Good
13 May 2018
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Tuesday Feb. 13th
- Rent seeking: generating economic advantages from private activities that are of a public
measure ; gov might make a monopoly to favour a particular industry so that they get
benefits from that monopoly ; seeking rent from an activity produced by the government ;
licenses offered from governments to particular companies to ensure a monopoly on a
particular good/service/activity
- Federal concepts: confederation debate: federation concept came from the issue of
French Canadians ; canada was not to become a unitary system of government but needed
to reconcile with provincial sectors of government
- Compact of peoples: Henri Bourassa said “we don't only need a representation of the
provinces, but also a representation of the languages/cultures, in the case of french” ;
argument was based on French minorities outside Quebec for education ; because the
English were majoritarian; normative foundations (moral foundations)
- Shifting population in Manitoba
- “Log rolling” : you scratch my back i'll scratch yours
- Unanimity allows for provinces to be like “if you get on board what I want, i’ll
help you with that”
- Metaphor of speech that describes “if you scratch my back i'll scratch yours” but
can be applied in the Canadian context with the unanimity rule as provinces can
gain power through negotiations by compromising
- Pg. 193 (coursepack) → governments were willing to give consent on certain
matters strongly prefer
Difference between public and private
- Why do we need governments?
- Some goods that have produced externalities that can’t be internalized and
corporate
- Different types of public goods (way of capturing the indirect consequences of all kinds
of activities)
- We need government to intervene
- Dimensions of public goods that make it imperative for governments to provide them
- 1. Divisible or indivisible
- 2. Exclusivity: high and low
- 3. Governments also need to maintain a certain level of community affairs
- Ostrom reading
- In a communist system: very few are private goods, most are public
- Chapters 8-10
Policies include Health, Education, and other welfare goods
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Federal concepts: confederation debate: federation concept came from the issue of. French canadians ; canada was not to become a unitary system of government but needed to reconcile with provincial sectors of government. Log rolling : you scratch my back i"ll scratch yours. Unanimity allows for provinces to be like if you get on board what i want, i"ll help you with that . Metaphor of speech that describes if you scratch my back i"ll scratch yours but can be applied in the canadian context with the unanimity rule as provinces can gain power through negotiations by compromising. 193 (coursepack) governments were willing to give consent on certain matters strongly prefer. Some goods that have produced externalities that can"t be internalized and corporate. Different types of public goods (way of capturing the indirect consequences of all kinds of activities) Dimensions of public goods that make it imperative for governments to provide them.
