/channels/taxonomy/term/11720/all en /channels/channels/news/uncovering-costs-and-benefits-sports-gambling-288573 <p>In a piece for <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, Professor <a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner"><strong>Reuven Brenner</strong></a> makes the case for legalized sports gambling – an activity that has only recently been legalized in the US through a Supreme Court ruling.</p> <p>“As in sports, so in high culture – prohibitions, bad regulations and badly imposed taxes destroy businesses and have long-term unintended consequences,” explains Brenner.</p> Tue, 07 Aug 2018 19:15:47 +0000 webfull 139413 at /channels /channels/channels/news/professor-brenner-anti-semitism-287145 <p>In an opinion piece for<em> The Wall Street Journal</em>, Desautels Professor <a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner"><strong>Reuven Brenner </strong></a>traces the early manifestations of anti-Semitism into the present, suggesting that the constant in all of this is the Jewish people’s opposition to dominant ideologies of a given time.</p> <p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-roots-of-anti-semitism-1525992673" target="_blank">Read more</a></p> Fri, 11 May 2018 15:55:23 +0000 webfull 137945 at /channels /channels/channels/news/professor-brenner-how-asian-countries-can-overcome-democratic-deficits-285628 <p>In a piece for <em>Asia Times</em>, Professor <strong><a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner">Reuven Brenner</a></strong> points to history and other geographic contexts to demonstrate how Asian countries, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, can redress democratic deviances.</p> <p><a href="http://www.atimes.com/democratic-deficits-around-world-asian-countries-learn/" target="_blank">Read more</a></p> Mon, 05 Mar 2018 21:13:49 +0000 webfull 136129 at /channels /channels/channels/news/professor-brenner-invited-prestigious-panel-284649 <p>Professor <a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner"><strong>Reuven Brenner</strong></a> was invited to present on a panel that discussed venture capital in Quebec’s biotech and life sciences industry. The high-profile event was attended by Quebec Ministers Mr. Gaétan Barrette and Ms. Dominique Anglade, while the discussion was moderated in part by Mr. Pierre-Marc Johnson, former Premier of Quebec. </p> Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:41:34 +0000 webfull 134975 at /channels /channels/channels/news/education-reformation-282959 <p>In a piece for <em>American Affairs</em>, Professor <strong><a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner">Reuven Brenner</a></strong> takes a pulse of contemporary U.S. education and outlines some of the key challenges in this area, including skewed high school graduation rates and the lack of rigorous training to develop skills and discipline.</p> <p>As a solution, Prof. Brenner proposes an accelerated education program that is complemented by new institutions to better prepare students for their lives and careers.</p> Mon, 20 Nov 2017 20:35:48 +0000 webfull 132954 at /channels /channels/channels/news/technological-advancement-means-rethinking-language-282683 <p>As society continues to embrace technological advancement, we tend to overlook how the words that our ancestors used have lost their meaning. In an article for <em>Asia Times</em>, Desautels professor <a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner"><strong>Reuven Brenner</strong></a> explores what happens when the words used for the physical realm are applied to a digitized society, and how the fit is not always a natural one. Prof. Brenner illustrates his point by referring to the legal system’s struggles with interpreting Google’s business practices.</p> Tue, 14 Nov 2017 16:24:32 +0000 webfull 132652 at /channels /channels/channels/news/bitcoin-new-gold-282492 <p>Bitcoin has been the target of much speculation among financial circles with some experts alleging that it has the potential to become comparable to gold, a currency legitimized through social convention.</p> <p>In a piece for <em>Asia Times</em>, Desautels professor <strong><a href="//mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner">Reuven Brenner</a></strong> explores what it takes for a new monetary yardstick to emerge, and argues that, historically, social convention must be combined with scarcity.</p> Tue, 07 Nov 2017 17:32:14 +0000 webfull 132483 at /channels /channels/channels/news/inflation-or-recession-us-fed-tries-untangle-financial-mystery-268912 <p>A <em>Weekly Standard</em> op-ed examines the way the Fed is trying to tame a $4-trillion quantitative easing problem in case another recession hits.</p> <p>The piece quotes Desautels professor <strong><a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner">Reuven Brenner</a></strong>’s withering criticism of current policies in <em>American Affairs</em> (in which he likens them more to astrology than science) but allows that the Fed is trying to make sense of a vastly confusing set of circumstances: low unemployment should be pushing wages and inflation upward, but it’s not happening.</p> Tue, 11 Jul 2017 15:13:26 +0000 webfull 129204 at /channels /channels/news/dobrobyt-zalezy-od-stopnia-odpowiedzialnosci-rzadu-przed-obywatelami-229404 <p>Głosować na prawicę, czy lewicę? To prawie bez znaczenia, gdy wyborcy szybko mogą rozliczyć polityków. Dobrobyt nie zależy od wyniku wyborów, ale od tego, czy funkcjonują mechanizmy egzekwowania odpowiedzialności rządzących przed obywatelami i czy ludzie z pomysłami mają dostęp do kapitału – uważa prof. <strong>Reuven Brenner</strong>.</p> <p>Read full article (in Polish): <a href="http://clicks.skem1.com/trkr/?c=28371&g=315&p=e881715cb0bd449b85c302d59661bf74&u=df8456b2d71592c5c539b71046f6731e&q=&t=1" target="_blank">Obserwatorfinansowy.pl</a>, July 22, 2013<br /> </p> Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:07:06 +0000 webfull 97555 at /channels /channels/news/lettre-ouverte-aux-investisseurs-irresponsables-237503 <p><span>J’ai toujours considéré l’investissement et la Bourse comme l’une des activités humaines parmi les plus stimulantes qui soient.</span></p> <p><span>... </span><span>Comme le dit l’économiste canadien <strong>Reuven Brenner</strong>, le progrès économique et social repose d’abord et avant tout sur notre capacité à marier le talent et le capital.</span><br /><br /><span>Read full article: </span><a href="http://orientationfinance.com/lettre-ouverte-aux-investisseurs-irresponsables/" target="_blank">Orientation Finance</a></p> Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:01:05 +0000 webfull 103572 at /channels /channels/channels/news/what-if-economists-applied-their-own-theories-themselves-257405 <p>Written by <strong>Reuven Brenner</strong><br /><br /> George Akerlof’s and Robert Shiller’s (Nobels in economics) new book, titled Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception declares on its first page that people “do not do what is really good for them; they do not choose what they really want.” It appears that a main preoccupation of economists – the self declared “behavioral economists” prominent among them – is to show how dumb people are as consumers and in assessing risks.<br /><br /></p> Fri, 18 Dec 2015 15:22:03 +0000 webfull 114707 at /channels /channels/news/when-statistics-lie-politics-and-us-education-system-265700 <p>For 2014-15, the graduation rate from US high schools hit a record 83%. As far as statistics go, that’s one that anyone would love, but there’s more going on than you’d think — and, according to Professor <a href="//www.mcgill.ca/desautels/reuven-brenner" target="_blank"><strong>Reuven Brenner</strong></a>, politicians and bureaucracies can make a statistic say nearly anything.</p> Fri, 10 Feb 2017 16:49:34 +0000 webfull 124806 at /channels /channels/news/faster-learning-route-wealth-225696 <p>If students could complete their education a year faster, the many benefits would include increased personal wealth, decreased government spending, and more sustainable entitlement programs.</p> Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:56:36 +0000 webfull 95540 at /channels /channels/news/6-economists-every-entrepreneur-should-know-about-234783 <p>For years I’ve rejected the false choice that entrepreneurs are forced to make when it comes to the subjects of political science and comparative economics. First is the offer to buy in to the notion that there exists no natural connection between the underlying motivations and incentives which inspire entrepreneurs and their political and electoral choices. </p> Wed, 02 Apr 2014 20:05:06 +0000 webfull 102192 at /channels /channels/news/currency-flows-and-flaws-brenner-255026 <p>This op-ed is written by <strong>Reuven Brenner</strong>, the Repap Chair at ���ϲ����� University’s Desautels faculty of Management. </p> <p>Much has been written on the “Dutch Disease” – how countries relying on their natural resources often fall on hard times, failing to develop. A Chinese observer, Laozi, in 81 BC had this to say: “A country is never as poor as when it seems filled with riches” (in Yan Tie Lun, A Discourse on Salt and Iron).  Only these days, the natural riches are oil (in Canada, Norway, Russia, Middle East) and in Australia, iron ore.</p> Wed, 09 Sep 2015 13:26:02 +0000 webfull 112188 at /channels