@regionomics profile picture
Murtaza Haider @regionomics

Academic & a columnist for the Financial Post. Researches real estate & transport markets. Author: Getting Started w/ Data Science (goo.gl/9iXM2h).

Joined August 2012
  • Tweets 16,162
  • Following 1,025
  • Followers 5,068
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Murtaza Haider@regionomics
16 Nov 2017
Delighted to announce the launch of my weekly real estate column with the Financial Post. Haider-Moranis Bulletin (hmbulletin.com): Why rent control is a false cure for housing shortages business.financialpost.com/w… via @nationalpost

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: C. Jotin Khisty - The Engineer Who Talked Poetry, Not Just Traffic linkedin.com/pulse/c-jotin-k… via @LinkedIn

C. Jotin Khisty - The Engineer Who Talked Poetry, Not Just Traffic

I only met him once, decades ago. But that meeting left me inspired and delighted.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Three Consecutive Population Declines: What Canada Can Learn from Japan linkedin.com/pulse/three-con… via @LinkedIn

Three Consecutive Population Declines: What Canada Can Learn from Japan

The Japanese government recently released the results of its 2025 census. As expected, the country's population declined by more than three million people, a drop of approximately 2.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Opportunity for a part-time urban economist/planner linkedin.com/pulse/opportuni… via @LinkedIn

Opportunity for a part-time urban economist/planner

We're hiring! Part-time research opportunity at the Cities Institute. Looking for an industrious current student or recent graduate who's genuinely interested in urban economics or planning and wants...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Sovereignty referendums are driven by political grievances, but are decided by urban density and diversity linkedin.com/pulse/sovereign… via @LinkedIn

Sovereignty referendums are driven by political grievances, but are decided by urban density and...

As Alberta heads to a referendum that puts Canada's federal unity to a vote, lessons and experiences from a similar referendum in Quebec three decades earlier become relevant. The Quebec separatists...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Dude, where's my car? linkedin.com/pulse/dude-wher… via @LinkedIn

Dude, where's my car?

The real-life manifestation of Grand Theft Auto on the streets and driveways in the Greater Toronto Area was less noticeable last year than the hype after the Covid-19 pandemic, when car thieves were...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: When 24 Per Cent of the Population Accounts for 61 Per Cent of the Drug Crisis linkedin.com/pulse/when-24-p… via @LinkedIn

When 24 Per Cent of the Population Accounts for 61 Per Cent of the Drug Crisis

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. I would argue that a data visualization can say even more.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Downtown Edmonton Does Not Need More Slogans. It Needs More People linkedin.com/pulse/downtown-… via @LinkedIn

Downtown Edmonton Does Not Need More Slogans. It Needs More People

Edmonton’s downtown is not facing a challenge (or challenges) because it lacks potential. It is facing a crisis because too many of the conditions required for a vibrant urban core have weakened...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Billions in Housing Spend Won’t Break Canada’s Housing Cost Spiral linkedin.com/pulse/billions-… via @LinkedIn

Billions in Housing Spend Won’t Break Canada’s Housing Cost Spiral

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government recently presented the spring economic update, promising to spend billions to address housing affordability. The Carney Liberals want to control house price...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: St. Albert at the Inflection Point: From Bedroom Community to Edge City linkedin.com/pulse/st-albert… via @LinkedIn

St. Albert at the Inflection Point: From Bedroom Community to Edge City

I spoke this morning at St. Albert's Business Breakfast, and I want to share what I think is one of the more underappreciated urban growth stories in Canada right now.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Director (Research & Outreach): Lead Canada’s Next Chapter in City-Building linkedin.com/pulse/director-… via @LinkedIn

Director (Research & Outreach): Lead Canada’s Next Chapter in City-Building

Help shape the future of city building in Canada. We are hiring a Director (Research and Outreach).

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Opening: Director of Research and Outreach linkedin.com/pulse/opening-d… via @LinkedIn

Opening: Director of Research and Outreach

We are hiring a Director (Research and Outreach). Help shape the future of city building in Canada.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Alberta to Canada: Help me help you. linkedin.com/pulse/alberta-c… via @LinkedIn

Alberta to Canada: Help me, help you.

It is time to turn around Canada’s economy, and there is reason for optimism. A new report by the Royal Bank of Canada, under its Growth Project initiative, outlines how Canada can unlock $1.

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Murtaza Haider retweeted
Peter Copeland
@CopelanPeter
Apr 2
Declining construction productivity in housing is an overlooked issue. When you think of other sectors, from manufacturing to resource extraction, and agriculture, production processes have changed drastically over the past 50 years. Housing, however, is done in much the same way as it was midcentury. Part of the reason lies in the low firm concentration in the industry, reflective of inconsistent policies across municipalities and provinces that increase compliance costs and make economies of scale a challenge to pursue. Based on a recent paper for @MLInstitute, @regionomics and I put forward ideas to make housing construction more productive. 👇
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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: A Global City Doesn’t Rely on One Runway: The case for Billy Bishop Airport linkedin.com/pulse/global-ci… via @LinkedIn

A Global City Doesn’t Rely on One Runway: The case for Billy Bishop Airport

Mark McQueen makes a compelling point in today’s Toronto Star on expanding Billy Bishop Airport. His advice to those reflexively opposing the project is blunt: get in line and let Premier Ford...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: The US-Iran diplomacy: What was achieved and what is needed linkedin.com/pulse/us-iran-d… via @LinkedIn

The US-Iran diplomacy: What was achieved and what more is needed

With bated breath, the world awaited an update on the peace talks between the United States and Iran in Islamabad this weekend. That hope dimmed when a sombre-looking JD Vance, the US vice-president,...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: From Logistic Regression to Agentic AI and back linkedin.com/pulse/from-logi… via @LinkedIn

From Logistic Regression to Agentic AI and back

It is always refreshing to see logistic regression mentioned in discussions of machine learning, and now sparingly in conversations about artificial intelligence, particularly Agentic AI. For those...

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: Spend infrastructure dollars wisely -- not all infrastructure is created equal linkedin.com/pulse/spend-inf… via @LinkedIn

Spend infrastructure dollars wisely -- not all infrastructure is created equal

The federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney is committing tens of billions of dollars to infrastructure. That, in itself, is commendable and certainly not controversial.

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Check out the latest article in my newsletter: A short-term opportunity to investigate infrastructure financing linkedin.com/pulse/short-ter… via @LinkedIn

A short-term opportunity to investigate infrastructure financing

We are seeking to employ one or more highly qualified Research Assistants for an upcoming project at The Cities Institute. Supported by BILD Alberta, we are undertaking a rapid, 2.

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Murtaza Haider retweeted
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
@MLInstitute
Mar 24
“Canada cannot build its way out of the housing shortage through labour expansion alone.” –“More Hammers, Fewer Homes” MLI paper In the latest MLI report Murtaza Haider (@regionomics), Simeon Ranxha, Meet Shah, Chris McCulloch and Stephen Moranis examine productivity of residential housing construction in Canada. Its central finding is clear: while some commonly cited measures suggest productivity has improved, they are poorly suited to housing policy. Read full paper to learn more⬇️
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Murtaza Haider retweeted
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
@MLInstitute
Mar 25
"@regionomics co-authored a report... which identified that the construction industry relies on increasing labour rather than investing in newer technologies. Those labour costs add to the higher house prices & lack of affordability." cbc.ca/news/canada/london/bu…

Builders warn dip in new home construction is a threat to London's economy | CBC News

London's residential construction sector could lose thousands of jobs in coming months due to a slump in new development if governments don't waive fees to make new homes more affordable, a builders'...

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