Kevin Page Jean Luc Pepin Research Chair University of Ottawa I recently had the opportunity to participate in the Walter Gordon Symposium at Massey College in Toronto. The theme of the symposium was aptly chosen by the students.   They wanted a discussion of how complexity has shaped our institutions and policy-making processes over the past decades, and the lessons we have learned about it. It is a terrific and difficult topic that requires a true public intellectual like Walter Gordon. Mr. Gordon was a former Finance Minister, public servant, businessman and writer. He wrote a book in the mid seventies entitled Storm Signals: New Economic Policies for Canada. It was one of the first economic policy books I owned. He made the case that complex policy issues needed to be examined and debated. The storm signals have shifted. In the 1970s, Mr. Gordon was concerned about inflation from oil price shocks. Today, many parts of the world worry about deflation caused by weak demand. Policy environments are complex. They are dynamic. Complexity is often interpreted as something with many parts that interact in multiple ways. It increases when multiplicity, interdependence and diversity goes up. I think we have more of[…]

Read more