Topic2 articles6 research documents1 concept3 open problems
Prices & markets
Writing
2Measuring the economy with new instruments: scraped prices, card-spending trackers and satellite imageryFour old arguments explain why an economy resists being computed, and none of them have gone away. What computation did change is measurement — scraped prices, card records and satellite images that report what is happening weeks before the official numbers do.Article10 Oct57 quotes · 1 source · 9 minPersonalised pricing software and the return of haggling, run from the seller's sideFrom the middle of the nineteenth century everyone paid the number on the tag. Pricing software is bringing the bazaar back — except this time the seller reads you, and you see nothing.Article3 Oct48 quotes · 9 min
Concepts named here
1Open problems
3Is RealPage-style rent software being used in Canada?I found no equivalent enforcement action — a genuine open questionOpen problem9 OctHow common is algorithmic price collusion in real markets?Calvano et al. is robust experimentally; real-world prevalence and detectability remain open.Open problem9 OctDoes the same basket cost more on your phone?Nobody has measured whether online prices in Canada change with your location, device or history. The US has a federal study; Canada has little enforcement and almost no documentation.Open problem3 Oct
Research
6Best-Before Dates, Soda and Canadian Food Prices: What the Rules Require, What Longer Dates Would Save, and What Is Driving Grocery PricesCanadian law does not require a best-before date on soda. Federal rules only require date labels on prepackaged foods that keep 90 days or less, so the one-year date on a 2L Pepsi is the manufacturer's own quality claim, not a regulation.…Research19 Oct34k charactersEngineered Booms and Busts: How Policy Drives Canada's Housing-Led RecessionsAcross five decades, Canada's recessions are not random market accidents but are repeatedly detonated by identifiable policy decisions — above all Bank of Canada interest-rate cycles acting on an economy where housing and…Research27 Sep84 figures · 15 sourcesRealPage North: Algorithmic Rent-Setting in Canada — Forensic Investigation and Detection-Instrument FeasibilityThe genuine Canadian story is forensic-historical, not live: algorithmic revenue-management software (RealPage's YieldStar/AIRM/LRO; Yardi's Revenue IQ/RENTmaximizer) was used here from at least 2017, grew gradually, then…Research27 Sep17 figures · 2 sourcesParticipation Income, Earned-Income Supplements, and Work-Sharing: A Policy Framework for CanadaParticipation income is the stronger bet for Canada.ResearchSep47 figures · 13 sourcesThe Architecture of the Forensic Video Essay: How the Best Investigative Channels Build Their ScriptsMEANS") until roughly the 60–75% mark — the "forensic turn" that separates an essay from a news report.ResearchSep9 figures · 6 sourcesThe Telescope Problem: Where AI and Real-Time Data Make the Invisible Economy LegibleThe real white space is instrumentation, not theory. Economics resists being "solved" by computation for structural reasons (reflexivity, the Lucas Critique, Goodhart's Law, performativity) — but those same limits…ResearchSep30 figures · 9 sources
Key figures
3Its central weakness is administrative: verifying participation for an entire population is costly, and Atkinson estimated only ~1% would fail to qualify.Participation Income, Earned-Income Supplements, and Work-Sharing: A Policy Framework for Canada1%The Canada Workers Benefit is a refundable tax credit that phases in at 27% of earnings above $3,000, reaches a 2025 maximum of $1,633 (singles) / $2,813 (families), then phases out at 15% above $26,855 (singles) / $30,639 (families).Participation Income, Earned-Income Supplements, and Work-Sharing: A Policy Framework for Canada27%The US DOJ settled with RealPage (Nov 24, 2025); nine US municipalities plus two states (California, New York) have banned or restricted algorithmic rent-setting; private US settlements total nearly US$360 million.RealPage North: Algorithmic Rent-Setting in Canada — A Forensic Investigation and Detection-Instrument Feasibility Study$360 million