insight & evidence
Policy Wonk posts that are primarily commentary or observations on society.
By Bernard F. Miller KC, ICD.D Nova Scotia recorded its best GDP growth on record in 2021 — by deliberately not focusing on GDP growth. Here is what that means for the way we measure, report, and govern economic success. In March 1968, Robert F. Kennedy stood before a crowd at the University of Kansas and delivered one of the most enduring critiques of economic measurement ever put to a...
By Bernard F. Miller KC, ICD.D Drucker saw it coming. Rajan gave us the framework. Now Musk and Trump have made the diagnosis impossible to ignore. What we are living through is not a political crisis. It is the price of a fifty-year war on community. In 1994, Peter Drucker published an essay in The Atlantic that reads today less like analysis and more like prophecy. The Age of Social...
A Field Guide for Public Servants By Bernard F. Miller KC, ICD.D | Restorative Change Lab Section 36(1)(a) of the Constitution Act, 1982 commits Canadian governments to promoting equal opportunities for the well-being of Canadians. Courts cannot enforce it. But it is not for that reason constitutionally inert. This article argues that it is a genuine constitutional value and that achieving it...
by Peter Nicholson – St. Francis Xavier University Convocation – May 4, 2025 Chancellor Mulroney, President Hakin, faculty, distinguished guests, proud families, and most of all, graduates—thank you for the honour of joining you on this never-to-be-forgotten milestone day. Taking inspiration from the motto of St. FX—Quaecumque Sunt Vera: Whatsoever things are true—I will talk today...
by Peter Nicholson The graph below appeared in a recent post on X by Johnatan Pallesen. Although the vertical scale is not explicitly indicated, it is presumably in units appropriate to each of the six variables plotted—e.g., Life expectancy in years from zero to about 100; GDP/capita from zero to about US$70,000. The point is to illustrate the spectacular take-off in the growth of an array of...
by Bernie Miller In May of 1994, Peter Drucker wrote a broad-ranging article for the Atlantic Monthly which he called The Age of Social Transformation weaving together observations which, 26 years later, seem remarkably prescient. One passage is worthy of special note: “The twenty-first century will surely be one of continuing social, economic and political turmoil and challenge, at least in its...
By Peter Nicholson This note summarizes and comments on key findings of the 2024 World Happiness Report (WHR), the latest in a series of annual publications that explore the nature and implications of a particular concept of “happiness” in a cross-nation comparative context. There should be much greater awareness of this exceptionally rich body of work and of its implications for public policy...
By Peter Nicholson George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian, argues for a broader and deeper analysis of the Trump phenomenon, positing that Trump voters possess an “extrinsic” value set, while Biden voters are more likely to express “intrinsic” values.[1] Monbiot is right that Trump represents the epitome of extrinsic values and thus may be powerfully attractive to those of a similar values...
Achieving Well Being through Convergence, Collective Action and Collective Impact by Bernie Miller The 40 years prior to the pandemic was far from a “golden age of shared prosperity in North America” and it was more like the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th Century. In March 2020, when COVID-19 changed lives across the globe, Nova Scotia – and many other societies — were faced with puzzles...
TO CONTROL COVID-19 IN CANADA Testing is not an end in itself but is undertaken to inform the decisions needed to control the virus responsible for COVID-19 while minimizing unintended consequences. In A “Smart” Testing Strategy To Control Covid-19 In Canada, Vivek Goel has partnered with the PolicyWonks, Peter Nicholson and Jeff Larsen, to argue that Canada should be testing a great deal more...
insight & evidence