What If? The Historian and the Counterfactual

This essay lays out why many scholars, particularly historians, are inherently skeptical of counterfactuals. It highlights several of the most obvious errors that are often made by those undertaking counterfactual reasoning. It also highlights how these articles go a long way toward developing effective rules for the appropriate and most effective use of counterfactuals.     

Ontario's Rae Report: Investing in growth

“I am urging the provincial government to adopt as a key mission for the province the goal for Ontario to be a leader in learning, and to fund higher education accordingly” Ontario: A Leader in Learning ‐ Report & Recommendations. By BOB RAE, Advisor to the Premier and the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. Toronto: Queen's Printer. 2005. Pp. iii, 124.     

Intergovernmental Relations in Canada: The Emergence of Collaborative Federalism

"Executive federalism" or "federal-provincial diplomacy" haslong been considered the defining characteristic of Canadianfederalism, which combines federalism and Westminster-stylecabinet government. However, these processes have come underincreasing stress in recent years from a number of forces thathave affected the nature and conduct of federalism and intergovernmentalrelations in Canada. Executive federalism has not been displaced,but has been increasingly informed by a set of practices thatwe call "collaborative federalism," characterized more by theprinciple of co-determination of broad national policies ratherthan by the more traditional pattern of federal-leadership.     

Analysis and classification of common vegetable oils

The analysis of fatty acids from common vegetable oils was investigated for application to forensic casework. A base-catalyzed transesterification of the fatty acids to fatty acid methyl esters using tetramethylammonium hydroxide was simple, rapid, straightforward and inexpensive. Canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower oils were able to be classified based on their fatty acid methyl ester profiles. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the detection limits for canola, corn, olive, peanut and safflower oils were determined to be 0.4 mg/mL or less and 0.2 mg/mL or less for soybean and sunflower oils.     

Transfers of Technology: A Basic Primer On Tax Considerations

The objective of this paper is to introduce managers of R&D operations to tax issues that must be considered when technology is transferred across international boundaries within the same company. The tax implications are often misunderstood or even overlooked in the technology transfer process. The paper explains how countries seek to tax their fair share of the income earned inside their borders. Since the amount of income earned depends on the price for technology paid by one part of a company to another, this transfer price is of keen interest to the tax authorities. To preserve their tax bases, therefore, countries establish rules to regulate the international transfer of goods and services, including technology, between related parties. This paper provides an overview of the economic principles underlying these rules, and illustrates their application with a series of examples.