Ontario’s Minister of Finance Charles Sousa will deliver his 2018 budget Mar. 28 and has said that in order to invest more in hospitals, mental health, long-term care and child care, Ontario will run a deficit.

Prof. Eveline Adomait, a professor in U of G ‘s Department of Economics and Finance, Adomait, quoted economist Milton Friedman — “There is nothing so permanent as a temporary program” — and said that once programs are in place, it is difficult to get rid of them. She said that while she doesn’t necessarily oppose running a deficit, deficit spending should be directed toward long-term growth, such as transportation infrastructure projects.

Adomait teaches and studies microeconomics and macroeconomics, money and banking, industrial relations and corporate finance. She wrote the books Cocktail Party Economics: The Big Ideas and Scintillating Small Talk About Markets and Dinner Party Economics: The Big Ideas and Intense Conversations About the Economy.

Adomait appeared in a Mar. 25 Globe and Mail story about North American governments’ spending and preparedness for an economic downturn. She was also interviewed for a Mar. 27 story on the popular blog iPolitics.

She is available for media interviews.

Contact:
Prof. Eveline Adomait
eadomait@uoguelph.ca