Economist Adam Smith

Adam Smith was often known as the 'founding father of economics'. He was born in Kirkcaldy Scotland in 1723. At the tender age of 17 he went to Oxford in 1951 and became a professor of Logic at Glasgow. The next year he gained attention by taking the chair of Moral Philosophy. He published two books one called the Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1759, and the other called An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776 which really put Smith in the spotlight.

In his first book, he develops the foundations for a general system of morals. Smith looks at man as self interested and self commanded. According to Smith, Individual freedom comes from self reliance, which is how a person is able to pursue his own self interests all the while commanding himself based on the principles of natural law.

In his second book, Smith uses precise detailed examples to acknowledge the cause and nature of the prosperity of a nation. This five book series is considered the first modern work in the field of economics. Through his research and understanding he was able to develop a analysis of the economic system. Some his more recognized work from the book is his examinaton of mercantilism and the concept of the invisible hand. Although not everyone agrees with Smith's ideas this book is reasonably the most valued book on the subject ever published. Without a question, it is the most priceless work in the field of free-market capitalism.

Although he died at the age of 67 he will always be known as one of the greatest moral philosophers and pioneers of political economics.

Unemployment in Canada

With employment insurance and unemployment reaching a high in Toronto, there is no doubt that Ontario along with the rest of Canada, better yet the world, is taking a big hit from the recent recession. As of January 2010 there are almost 800,000 people receiving regular employment insurance benefits in Canada alone. As of June 4th, 2010, Canada's unemployment rate stands at 8.1%, with Ontario having a 8.9% rate. This comes as an improvement from the 9.4% that was calculated by Stats Can in April of 2009. In addition, 67,000 full time workers have been employed, only to see 43,000 part time positions lost. 54,000 students coming into this summer aged 20-24 have been employed bringing their employment rate up 3.1% to 59.2% compared to May 2009. Those seniors 55 years of age or older that are out of work may be thinking to themselves that they have no chance in competing for jobs with the new generation of young men chasing for jobs. The stats seem to tell a different story, as employment for men 55 years and over have seen a 5.0% increase in employment since July 2009. Although it seems that the Canadian economy seems to be recovering it still has some ways to go as 670,000 people in Ontario alone have lost their jobs since October of 2008. Here are a following of graphs representing the employment trends in the past couple years.






Although different countries give different employment results, Canada seems to be one of the early nations in the process of climbing out of the recession. Although it will still take some time for our economy to fully recover, we are seeing big improvements as seen in the statistics shown.

Competition in Economics

In Economics, the term competition is referred to as the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favorable terms. In other words it is two companies striving for a greater share of the market to sell of buy goods and services. Here is an example of a two companies that are currently in competition.





Arguably two of the biggest companies today in the technological world are now competing to take over the entire market. These two companies are Apple and Google. Whether its the Chrome or Safari, Android or iPhone, Adwords or iAds, it is a constant battle for supremacy. But whats wrong with some healthy competition, Right? Apple does not seem to think so as they have heard rumours that Google is planning to compete with their iTunes program. You would think that having sold 100's of millions of songs and such a huge customer base would never have a company to compete with. Google thinks otherwise, as they are in preparation to launch their own music program called 'Google Music' offering similar features as iTunes such as having the ability to purchase music and movies online. With such a similar product you might be asking yourself, will I really switch from purchasing songs off iTunes and switch to Google after having dealt with iTunes for so long? I am sure most would say no as you have gained a trust with Apple that would keep you going back. This is why Google is planning to offer the same online products at a competitive price hoping to steal some of Apple's customers. As Apple has iTunes compatible only Apple products, Google will need to do the same in order to compete. This is why they are planning to have Google Music only compatible with their Android phones which have started taking over some of iPhone's market. Google will need more time to prepare their product if they are to make this product successful but only time will tell if this becomes a hot product or just another failed innovation.