The Top Economic Stories Of 2020 Part 1 of 5

ATB Economics 

It’s that time of the year when we take a look back—from an Alberta perspective—at the top economic stories that took place over the previous 12 months. Each Owl this week will examine one story.

The full list, along with other observations about the year that was, are discussed in the latest edition of ATB’s The Future Of podcast hosted by our Chief Economist Todd Hirsch. The year-end edition can be found here and features commentary from energy guru Jackie Forrest.

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First up is the ongoing saga known as Brexit. Brexit (a combination…

ATB Economics | November 27, 2020

A little Black Friday trivia

It being “Black Friday” today, The Owl is taking a break from its usual Alberta-focused statistical content to share a little trivia about “the busiest shopping day of the year.” (Please note that the references to Thanksgiving are to the U.S. holiday rather than Canadian Thanksgiving.)

1. What was the first department store to advertise a post-Thanksgiving sale?
2. What percentage of Americans shopped (either in person or online) on Black Friday 2019?
3. What percentage of Black Friday shoppers in the U.S. admit to…

ATB Economics | November 3, 2020

US election day special

It’s election day for our American cousins so The Owl is taking a quick look at some of the economic ties that bind our two countries together.

Given that Alex Trebek is one of Canada’s many exports to the U.S., we thought we’d present the figures à la the game show Jeopardy that Trebek has hosted since 1984 (which pre-dates the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement by four years).

Category: Canada-US Trade
Clue: Canada’s largest export market
Answer (in the form of a question): What is the United States?
Canada…