Analysis of news article in relation to macroeconomic concepts - Term Paper Example

It is important to strengthen the Canadian economic vision that is built on innovation and knowledge, which is driven by a diverse and successful university sector (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2012). Using this approach, the Canadian government can fully realize the contributions made by universities, especially those that are business-engaged. This paper aims to discuss the role that universities can play in growing the country’s GDP and in decreasing the rate of unemployment. Universities at the Center of GDP Growth A permanent hike in university funding, for instance, by use of taxpayers’ money, could emerge, as a cornerstone for the government to increase Canada’s GDP.

A report by the Universities of New Zealand and NZIER concluded that an increase of government investment in universities would lead to a permanent and significant increase in the country’s GDP. In illustrating how increased funding would affect the economy, they modeled an additional $200 million in university research and funding over the next five years (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2012). . The Canadian government, at present, invests just more than $1 billion every year in universities with a similar amount supporting university students financially (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2012).

The Canadian government increased investment levels significantly in education following a report by KPMG Econ Tech in 2009. The report called, for increased university funding, to boost the Canadian productivity levels nationally by 4.6% by the year 2040. The same report also estimated that the implementation of these recommendations could also add up to 6.4% to the GDP. It is important for the government to increase university learning and teaching base funding by 10% by 2020 and ensure that they maintain internationally competitive funding levels (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2012).

It could be expected that implementation would do more for living standards and GDP than any single reform that is publicly identified and costed. Boosting university investment could lead to a more skilled and smarter, work force and improve wealth distribution that would reduce the two-speed economy problem where there is a boom in some sectors while others continue to struggle. The cumulative benefit to the treasury from these reforms taken over the period between 2010 and 2040 is projected at $325 billion, which is the public funding that is required for Canada’s major future needs (Yusuf & Nabeshima, 2012).

This information also confirms that investment in universities from the government will continue to provide a dividend in productivity for many years to come. Expanding university reach in Canada is central to the productivity agenda fronted by the Canadian government. In this century, the