Political Economy of Canada (Oxford)

Students of Canadian political economy are faced with the task of assimilating and assessing critically a wealth of detailed studies of Canadian political and economic life. In this book the authors offer a fresh approach that recognizes and describes the importance of such factors as social
class and economic forces, but also stresses the significance of political institutions in their own right in the production and distribution of wealth.

Separate chapters explore the structure and organization of, and the interrelationships between, the state, labour, and capital in Canada, and show how their fragmented and decentralized nature limits the capacity of governments to improve on the political and economic status quo. After considering
the strengths and weaknesses of liberal and socialist approaches, and the staples approach pioneered by Harold Innis, the book outlines the domestic political economy and how Canada is linked to the international political economy through the operation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) and the Canadian-American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Particular attention is devoted to the constraints imposed on the Canadian state by a market-oriented, natural resource export economy, such as growing dependence on U.S. trade and unequal regional distribution of production and income.

Two case studies of Canadian industrial and fiscal policy trace federal and provincial efforts to manage the micro and macro economies. They also illustrate the difficulties Canadians will face in dealing with increasing pressures of resource depletion, environmental degradation, continental
integration, and globalization.