search : contact us : about us : site guide : home
  University of British Columbia Press
 Search Our Catalogue
  search by subject

 UBC Press
About UBC Press
Acknowledgements
Conferences & Events
Contact Us
Media Centre
Publishing With UBC Press
Publishers Represented
Staff Directory

 Books
Awards
Catalogues
Forthcoming Titles
How To Order
Recent Reviews
Review Copies
Series

 Join Our Mailing List
Sign Up
Privacy Statement

 ubcpress.ca
About ubcpress.ca
Frequent Questions
Privacy Statement
Site Guide
Website Feedback

 Featured Title
.
Racing to the Bottom?
Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation
Kathryn Harrison  

$85.00 Hardcover
Release Date: 12/5/2005
ISBN: 9780774812252    


$32.95 Paperback
Release Date: 7/1/2006
ISBN: 9780774812269    
320 Pages
Equality | Security | Community series

OTHER WAYS TO ORDER
About the Book

The spectre of a “race to the bottom” is increasingly prominent in debates about globalization and also within federal systems where the mobility of both capital and individuals prompts fears of interjurisdictional competition with respect to taxes and environmental and welfare standards. While there has been no shortage of either political rhetoric or academic theorizing on this subject, empirical studies have been in shorter supply. This volume seeks to fill that gap by asking: Are Canadian provinces engaged in a race to the bottom and, if so, what are the consequences?

The contributors apply insights from economics and political science to several policy fields. What emerges is a theoretical and empirical picture of interprovincial competition that shows it to be more complex than the popular image of a race to the bottom and that also contradicts predictions of an inexorable downward spiral.

This timely, practical volume will be of interest to public policy practitioners, as well as to students and scholars of economics and political science.

About the Author(s)

Kathryn Harrison is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, and author of Passing the Buck: Federalism and Canadian Environmental Policy.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables / vii

Acknowledgments / xi

1 Provincial Interdependence: Concepts and Theories / 1
Kathryn Harrison

2 A Race to the Bottom in Provincial Business Taxation in Canada? / 25
Kenneth J. McKenzie

3 Still in the Game: Efforts to Govern Economic Development Competition in Canada / 49
Douglas M. Brown

4 Follow the Leader and Dominoes: Games that Provinces Play in Tobacco Taxation / 73
Kathryn Harrison

5 Environmental Policy in Canada: Harmonized at the Bottom? / 113
Nancy Olewiler

6 Slouching toward the Bottom? Provincial Social Assistance Provision in Canada, 1980-2000 / 157
Gerard W. Boychuk

7 Races to the Bottom versus Races to the Middle: Minimum Wage Setting in Canada / 193
David A. Green and Kathryn Harrison

8 Policy Races in the American States / 229
Mark Carl Rom

9 Are Canadian Provinces Engaged in a Race to the Bottom? Evidence and Implications / 257
Kathryn Harrison

Works Cited / 271

Contributors / 291

Index / 293

Reviews

This book gives researchers the opportunity to understand how specialists in other disciplines and with different points of view understand the issue of provincial interdependence. A very important topic, of immediate concern to policy makers, written by well-known experts: a winning combination.
– Ron Kneebone, co-author of Past (In)Discretions: Federal and Provincial Fiscal Policy in Canada

The underlying question as illustrated by the collection’s title is whether inter-provincial competition is leading to a destructive race to the bottom marked by lowering standards and widespread retrenchment…Those seeking to participate in this debate should pay careful attention to this collection. While the book is directed toward a serious policy audience the conclusions merit wider circulation. They offer evidence that dialogue among provincial policy-makers and public opinion offer an alternative set of influences to those of economic competition…this is a significant collection and is a needed and well-organized work.
—Hugh Mellon, Political Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2007

Sample Chapter

Sample Chapter

Related Topics

Public Policy
Political Science
Political Science > Canada

Other Ways To Order

In Canada, order your copy of Racing to the Bottom? from UTP Distribution at:

UTP Distribution
5201 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
M3H 5T8

Phone orders: 1(800)565-9523 or (416)667-7791
Fax orders: 1(800)221-9985 or (416)667-7832
Email: utpbooks@utpress.utoronto.ca

Ordering information for customers outside Canada


© 2001 UBC Press
2029 West Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6T 1Z2
t. 604.822.5959 | f. 604.822.6083 | e. frontdesk@ubcpress.ca