Eric J. Hanson's Financial History of Alberta, 1905-1950

Book excerpt: Eric Hanson Albertas first, and arguably greatest, economist wrote a number of influential books on federal-provincial relations, education finance, health care finance, and energy economics. His doctoral thesis was entitled A Financial History of Alberta, 1905-1950 and was found by Paul Boothe at the University of Alberta library while Boothe was doing research on Alberta government spending almost forty-five years after it was written. This "forgotten gem" sheds light on the institutional, economic, and public development of the province from a financial perspective. With a detailed and analytical introduction, this edited work provides historical perspective on the perennial problems facing Alberta's fiscal managers: wildly fluctuating revenues, in-migration, seemingly insatiable demands for infrastructure, high-quality public services, and resistance to taxes while exuding an optimistic attitude for the future.