Review the federal Department of Finance’s COVID-19 economic response plan for business at https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan.html, and the CBC article https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lobbying-covid-19-numbers-up-1.5549745 Use this information along with lecture notes and the textbook to answer the following questions.
What should the role of government be in the economy generally? What should the role of government be with regards to supporting businesses facing hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak? Use normative/prescriptive explanations.
What factors explain the actual conduct of government in this policy area? Use positive or descriptive explanations.
Part 2
Watch the movie Inside Job.
In the film, Robert Gnaizda, former director of the Greenlining Institute, discusses a series of meetings in which Greenspan recognized the complexity of subprime mortgages but refused to change his mind about regulating them. Gnaizda concluded, “It was clear he was stuck with his ideology.”
What was Greenspan’s ideology? To what extent was Greenspan right? How was he wrong? Use normative and positive descriptors.
How/why did the 2008 financial crisis unfold differently in Canada? Use normative and positive descriptors. Use the textbook, https://www.nber.org/digest/dec11/w17312.html and https://financialpost.com/news/economy/canada-dodged-the-worst-of-the-financial-crisis-and-it-wasnt-just-dumb-luck to help answer this question. You can use other sources too, but that is not required for complete marks.