Hey, small spender
With the government and consumers exhausted, officials are begging firms to pick up the slack
CANADA’S ruling Conservatives like to boast that their country weathered the world recession better than any other G7 member. Though they tend to attribute this success to their own policies, one of the main causes was Canada’s conservative corporate culture. Its banks had barely dabbled in subprime mortgages when America’s housing market imploded.
That caution, widely seen as a virtue during the financial crisis, now looks problematic in a recovery that is at risk of choking. In 2010 and 2011 Canada’s GDP grew by an average of 2.8% a year, more than America’s and than the economies of other rich commodity-dependent countries like Australia, New Zealand and Norway. The OECD now predicts it will grow by 1.9% in 2012, the same as New Zealand and less than the other three countries.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Hey, small spender"
From the October 6th 2012 edition
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