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A current awareness resource for students & faculty members in Business & Economics


One year in: The business of (legal) cannabis

Published by Mark Bodnar

Time flies when you're having fun...

drawing of a cannabis leaf with dollar signs between each segment
It was one year ago today that Canada legalized cannabis. Now that we are a year into this new world of legalized sale and consumption, we are seeing innovations such as edibles & low-cost, bulk buying, and there are reports of a boost to the economy of over $8 billion.

I thought I'd do a quick "anniversary" check today to see what new information resources might now be available on this hot topic... 

<Read on for lots of recent resources on this fast-changing topic!>

Trending today... Cannabis business resources

Published by Mark Bodnar

There's an old saying that "twice is a coincidence, but three times is a trend."  In the last half hour I've spotted three new cannabis/marijuana business related resources in our collection, tipping us over into trend territory.

Image of a cannabis leaf with dollar signs interspersed between the leaves
Such a trend toward information on the business aspect of marijuana isn't really a surprise: with legalization just around the corner, businesses have been scrambling for months (if not years) to line up a good starting position.  The people who produce the reports, data, and ebooks needed to support new businesses have also been scrambling to fill this new niche.

If you are among those who are looking into this new market (academically or entrepreneurially), check out these new resources available through the SFU Library: 

<Click here for the resources!>

New data on "Canadians at Work and Home" from Statistics Canada: GSS 2016 released

Published by Mark Bodnar

Another bit of welcome news from Statistics Canada this morning... they've published new data from the 2016 General Social Survey.  

Now, based solely on that one short phrase, you may not think it's worth reading further, but those who have used data from the General Social Survey know that its new cycle deals with "Canadians at Work and Home" and is deeply relevant to research areas in both economics and business.

<Read on to find out exactly how "deeply relevant" this data might be to your research!>

Statistics Canada logo: Canadian flag image and the name of the organization in both English and French.

Data-driven decisions: Statistics Canada, cannabis, and non-resident housing ownership

Published by Mark Bodnar

Decisions need data. 

line drawing of a hand holding a barchart - meant to represent "data"
I'm sure I don't need to remind BUEC Buzz readers of the need for data as a foundation for decisions of all sorts... social policy, marketing, strategic planning, and beyond.

That's why I'm so pleased to open my email each morning and see new data from Statistics Canada on such hot topics as cannabis consumption and non-resident ownership of housing... <Read on for links to great data!>

Women in the workforce: Statistics, causes, and issues

Published by Mark Bodnar

I see that Statistics Canada has just released the results of a study on The Canada–US gap in women's labour market participation, 1997 to 2015.  (Spoiler: The two countries had similar, and rising, rates until about 1976, then Canada's participation rate continued to climb while the US rate began to decline, to the extent that there is now 7-point gap between us on this measure.)

As is often the case, these numbers raise all sorts of questions...