Mario Iacobacci (he/him)

Transport & infrastructure economics, labour markets, public policy & all topics worthy of Queen of social sciences. Opinions are my own. Retweets ≠ support

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

Thank you @canadiantransit for the invite. Very much enjoyed the panel. And I do hope that transit operators learn how to monetize some of the $1.8B in consumer surplus created annually

[CUTA-ACTU @canadiantransit]

Mario Iacobacci (@iacob007), Alain Mercier, and Sarah Ross deliver speeches on public transit funding and financing. Each speaker gave valuable insights on how to better fund public transit as it adapts to the changing environment around it. #transitfunding #CUTAPolicyForum

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@andrew_leach Strangely coherent, I would say.

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@iedm_montreal Those auto plants were expensive to attract. The whole auto industry is now under siege. Quebec just had the Northvolt debacle. Peanuts by comparison

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

Oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has almost fully normalized. That means oil is back to trading macro. The recent fall in oil prices is about the perception that the Fed's reaction function is shifting hawkish and - today - weak payrolls...
https://t.co/DY7b4HbfRI

[Bruce Crossing @SenatorCrossing]

I’m married to a beautiful Italian-American spitfire who could be Prime Minister Meloni’s sister. I know that posture well. This conversation was not a pleasant one for our President.

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

One thing that drives me completely nuts is Western defeatism. Within weeks of the US blockade of Iran, all these people said it wasn't working. Just look at China's exports to Iran. They went down to zero. Iran was shut off. We're our own worst enemy...
https://t.co/0QSvbRkj2e

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@robin_j_brooks Shameful and short-sighted

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@iedm_montreal LNG is low-carbon, so am not sure you have the right take on this. Skip the ideology and make it about market access.

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

Not so bad for Western Canada

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

The big manufacturing hubs of the world - like South Korea - were able to offset Strait of Hormuz disruption by importing from elsewhere. South Korea imported lots more oil from Canada (lhs) and "paid up" to do so. That's why this oil shock isn't so bad...
https://t.co/1nWeEHBXB9

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

Finally a few words of wisdom here .. amidst all the political hot air

[Marc Lévesque @MarcLevesqueEco]

The first and primary criteria to evaluate whether a high-speed rail project should go ahead or not is whether the benefits of the project exceed the costs. Note whether it’s cool, not whether it would be nice to have, but whether the net benefits are positive.

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

This is the purpose of a business case - to demonstrate that the project would make us better off as a society; and that the economic return is better than investing in other projects. That is what Alto needs to demonstrate. Full stop. /2

[Sébastien Bovet @SebBovetSRC]

Le futur TGV Qc-Toronto est, selon PSPP, un « fiasco financier à 200 G$ » dont l’objectif est de « répondre au désir de "nation building" ». Le Qc pourrait-il vraiment se retirer du projet? L'avis des #RDIMordus, Michelle Courchesne, @JFLisee, @DimitrisSoudas et @FBoivinGatineau.

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

This is the purpose of a business case - to demonstrate that the project would make us better off as a society; and that the economic return is better than investing in other projects. That is what Alto needs to demonstrate. Full stop.

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

How depressing is it to see these public debates on whether or not we should have a HSR project. Despite all the silly politics on display, you gotta hand it to PSPP for raising the question of whether the HSR funds should be spent more wisely on repairing the infra we have /1

[Sébastien Bovet @SebBovetSRC]

Le futur TGV Qc-Toronto est, selon PSPP, un « fiasco financier à 200 G$ » dont l’objectif est de « répondre au désir de "nation building" ». Le Qc pourrait-il vraiment se retirer du projet? L'avis des #RDIMordus, Michelle Courchesne, @JFLisee, @DimitrisSoudas et @FBoivinGatineau.

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

There's a bunch of commodity forecasters who've been making apocalyptic oil price forecasts for 3 months now. There's a reason those forecasts have been wrong and will stay wrong. If you're hung up on inventory depletion, you're double counting this shock.
https://t.co/QPPPWXYXRp

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@VincentGeloso

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@robin_j_brooks Interesting, cuz Canadians sure did.

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

It's 3 months of fearmongering on oil prices. What these voices never address is what's already in the price. Brent is up 60% from before the war. Inventories are down, but markets are forward-looking. This got priced long ago. That's what doomers miss...
https://t.co/xHCtqSNnrA

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@LeylaKuni Well, it’s better they spend it rather than save it!

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@rcbregman @Frances_Coppola Indeed. It’s called resting your social programs on the sharp elbows of the middle class

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

Are the chickens finally coming home to roost on global public debt? Ironically, @robin_j_brooks is one of the few economists still paying attention to this chronic post-COVID problem

[Robin Brooks @robin_j_brooks]

We've officially reached the "brutal" stage in the global bond market sell-off. The 10y10y forward yield (red) is making new highs all over the place. Japan's 10y10y forward has risen 30 basis points in just a few days. Even Swiss 10y10y forward is rising.
https://t.co/wLyQataCjN

[Mario Iacobacci (he/him) @iacob007]

@robin_j_brooks Gotta hand it to “Lizz Truss”, whose legacy has become the textbook case in credibility deficits - when bond yields rise alongside currency depreciation - or when the UK behaves like an EM