Does Alberta Have a Spending Problem?

Ken Boessenkool
Additional contact information
Ken Boessenkool: The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary

SPP Communique, 2010, vol. 2, issue 1

Abstract: Alberta spent the better part of the last decade of the 20th century becoming the paragon of fiscal virtue. Following a 1993 election fought over the nature of Alberta’s spending, the Alberta government set the standard for having a clean and closely controlled fiscal framework by vigorously reducing its expenditures. And it reaped the rewards by paying down its debt and making tax cuts that enhanced critical productivity, including the move to a single rate of personal income tax. The recent return to deficits in Alberta has raised the question of whether the province has a spending problem. The answer to this question has important implications for how the province addresses its deficit. If Alberta has a spending problem, it makes sense to focus on expenditure reductions to reduce the deficit. If not, then relying on economic growth or tax increases might be the appropriate response.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.policyschool.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/alberta-spending.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:clh:commun:v:2:y:2010:i:1

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SPP Communique from The School of Public Policy, University of Calgary Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bev Dahlby ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).