A Handbook of Economic Indicators. 2nd ed.

David Robinson, an economics professor, is dean of the Faculty of Social
Sciences at Laurentian University.

By the time the first edition of this practical and clearly written book
about the real Canadian economy was published, its author had served as
chief economist for Wood Gundy for a number of years. Since writing the
first edition, Grant has taught macroeconomics to students in the
Executive MBA and Master of Management and Professional Accounting
programs at the University of Toronto. The second edition of his guide
to getting and interpreting hundreds of key indicators is crisper and
more like a conventional textbook than the first edition was. The
information has been updated, and the author has added Web addresses for
many series so that readers can download the most recent releases. A new
section, complete with equations and a “Keynesian Cross,” shows how
the Economics 101 multiplier is derived—and even incorporates
expectations.

For Grant, the economy revolves around the Bank of Canada. Like most of
the financial community, he seems to approve of the Bank’s decision to
throw a million people out of work to control inflation. His discussions
of wealth and financial markets, the nature of money, and wage
rigidities are lucid and essentially correct. He does, however, make the
questionable assertion that profits during a recession fall because
labor’s share rises; in fact, labor’s share rises during recession
only because total transactions fall (anti-labor business students will
no doubt prefer Grant’s interpretation).

While the handbook can be recommended as a supplement for introductory
or possibly second-year macroeconomics courses, it is especially
suitable for all those commerce and economics students who plan to get
rich in the financial services industry.