Tom Courchene showed how economists can shape public policy |
Editor’s note: Among his many accomplishments, Thomas Courchene was a senior scholar at the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the publisher of Policy Options. He passed away November 4, 2025.
A recent symposium at Queen’s University School of Policy Studies to recognize Tom Courchene, the school’s first director, was not only to celebrate him, but to learn from his contributions to public policy in Canada.
Unlike other speakers invited to the event, I am at best a lapsed economist and definitely not a Courchene scholar. But I was among those at the receiving end of Tom’s advice over the many years he wrote about and challenged many policies and regulations brought in by governments.
I was at Industry Canada when Tom was criticizing regional policies. The Department of Finance when he was sharing his views on exchange rates, inflation targeting, federal transfers, equalization, human capital and securities regulation. The Privy Council Office when Tom expressed his opinions about fiscal federalism and budgets. Anyone in government encountered Tom’s views — often.
Over an amazing range of policy topics, Tom was the impetus for many, many memos to ministers and prime ministers answering the question: What is Courchene on about and does he have a point? The answer was that Tom always had a point — and one worth considering — whether in the final analysis you agreed with it or not. Or, as a senior public servant once put it: “Tom was not always right, not always wrong, always worth reading, and never disrespectful.” Not a bad tribute for anyone engaged in the world of political economy.
An economist who tackled practical problems
Tom was a public intellectual in the best sense of the term. He was attuned to real-world problems and how economics — his profession of choice — could help solve them. He understood better than many academics that to influence policy one not only had to have well-analyzed ideas, but be able to communicate them clearly — and repeatedly.
He enjoyed tilting at the windmills of the policy status quo with analyses and........