Just to bring the tangent on Canadian/U.S. differences back on line with the discussion Mary Schweitzer initiated, perhaps one can ask if there are significant difference in the way Canadian economists view government activity. To make this more concrete, consider Harold Innis' relationship with the early Chicago School economists. Perhaps other on the list can say more about this, but my perception is that Innis had a strong ambivalence (sp.?) about government action. One the one hand, he was influenced by the views of Frank Knight, who believed that all government action involved the use of force and was coercive (Knight's most powerful statement of this comes in his unpublished reflection on the Sacco/Vincetti execution, called "The ethics of the state"). Knight visited Toronto in 1934 at Innis' invitation and delivered a lecture on the downfall of western civilization (published by UofT Quarterly as "Social Science and the Political Trend") which re-iterated this theme. But Innis was also a nationalist, and his work is often cited by those who wish for greater government involvement in the economy in order to establish an independent course of development. Innis also participated in the formation of government funding agencies for research in the social sciences (and regularly sat on committees that handed out funds). Perhaps discussion of how specific economists used notions of coercion in their work would assist this discussion. Ross Ross B. Emmett, Augustana University College, Camrose, Alberta CANADA T4V 2R3 voice: (403) 679-1517 fax: (403) 679-1129 e-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]