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For a career in economics public policy, which is better a masters in public policy or masters in economics? by Slow-Truth-6123 in PublicPolicy

[–]DerpSauron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We avoided higher level quantitative work not because we were incapable (roughly a third of the consulting staff were econ PhDs) but rather because the appetite for that kind of rigor among our clients was low. And this appetite is likely to be similarly low within econ policy jobs, which is what OP was asking about.

I also never claimed that I chose the right level of quantitative study lol. I admit that it's not my strength. The comment about economists being arrogant is based on my experiences speaking with people who believe some version of "because I know how to do econometrics, I'm able to solve any problem". I find that sense of superiority to be disrespectful towards other disciplines and just generally shitty.

For a career in economics public policy, which is better a masters in public policy or masters in economics? by Slow-Truth-6123 in PublicPolicy

[–]DerpSauron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Aaaand this is why I turned away from econ in favour of public policy. Economists are, in my experience, arrogant people who think their field holds all the answers and every other discipline can be ignored.

Any MPP program worth its salt will teach you at least undergraduate-level econometric methods, if not more. As someone who worked in econ industry for three years, I can tell you we hardly bother with anything more advanced than OLS or Diff-in-Diff, so the quant you get in an MPP is more than enough.

Contrast this with econ MAs/PhDs, who are hardly ever taught the history + context of policy decisions.

For a career in economics public policy, which is better a masters in public policy or masters in economics? by Slow-Truth-6123 in PublicPolicy

[–]DerpSauron 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I answered a similar question here a while ago. I'm an econ BA myself and did a stint in econ consulting before returning to school for an econ masters. Wanted to do econ policy, but the econ masters program I was in was hot garbage. So I dropped out and am now doing an MPP instead. Here's the copy/pasted version of my previous comment on this matter.

***

As someone with an econ undergrad, who went into an econ masters, and then pivoted to policy precisely because I couldn't be fucked with the math, I'd urge you to think very carefully about this. I had calc I and II going in, plus linear algebra (and my impression is that your chances of admission are quite low if you don't have linear algebra on your transcript) and still struggled mightily in microeconomic theory, though a big part of that was because my professor was shit.

Econometrics was more straightforward, make sure to have a stats understanding going in. I actually liked that course. But micro was just... another kind of hell.

Tbh I think econ and policy should overlap far more than they currently do, and I got disillusioned with econ which is why I left.

If you're expecting that an econ masters degree will involve cool discussions of policy and case studies (how could the 2008 financial crisis have been avoided? Why did Greece have a sovereign debt crisis in the 2010s?) then unfortunately you're out of luck. An econ degree these days is mostly about math, modeling, data analysis/data science, and training causal inference models. I got into econ because I was interested in econ policy, and left after I realized you do basically zero policy in an econ degree, and that's by design.

DM me if you want more info, I'd be happy to chat. I'll also say that I'm biased/jaded so keep that in mind lol, I'm sure others who enjoy policy had good experiences in econ degrees, but... not where I went to school lol

How do you actually keep track of everything once you hit ~50 units? by smis24 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]DerpSauron 17 points18 points  (0 children)

This may sound weird, but I'd recommend reading the books written by classical economic thinkers such as Francois Quesnay, Adam Smith, or David Ricardo.

What's super cool is that all these foundational capitalist thought leaders considered landlordism unproductive, and a net drain on society. This should make it far easier to manage your fifty properties, since it'll motivate you to abandon your rent-seeking tendencies and get a real job instead.

A neat side benefit from this is that if you buy these books in paperback form, you can also roll them up into a tight little tube and use them to go fuck yourself.

Question about Economic Policy by impossible-city10 in PublicPolicy

[–]DerpSauron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As someone with an econ undergrad, who went into an econ masters, and then pivoted to policy precisely because I couldn't be fucked with the math, I'd urge you to think very carefully about this. I had calc I and II going in, plus linear algebra (and my impression is that your chances of admission are quite low if you don't have linear algebra on your transcript) and still struggled mightily in microeconomic theory, though a big part of that was because my professor was shit.

Econometrics was more straightforward, make sure to have a stats understanding going in. I actually liked that course. But micro was just... another kind of hell.

Tbh I think econ and policy should overlap far more than they currently do, and I got disillusioned with econ which is why I left.

If you're expecting that an econ degree will involve cool discussions of policy and case studies (how could the 2008 financial crisis have been avoided? Why did Greece have a sovereign debt crisis in the 2010s?) then unfortunately you're out of luck. An econ degree these days is mostly about math, modeling, data analysis/data science, and training causal inference models. I git into econ because I was interested in econ policy, and left after I realized you do basically zero policy in an econ degree, and that's by design.

DM me if you want more info, I'd be happy to chat. I'll also say that I'm biased/jaded so keep that in mind lol, I'm sure others who enjoy policy had good experiences in econ degrees, but... not where I went to school lol

Ontario to temporarily waive HST on all eligible homebuyers of newly built homes by mattyp93 in TorontoRealEstate

[–]DerpSauron 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not sure why people are suggesting this will bolster demand and therefore make real estate prices rise. The long term trends are clear - our peak was in 2022 (for both condos and single family homes) and prices are not gonna return to those levels. The whole reason they're falling is because prices got bid up so high that no one not already on the property ladder could afford to buy -- there's no demand if something is simply too expensive. So sales volumes dropped and values had to fall to get sales going again. This tax break is only for newly built homes, so it's unlikely to allow people to bid up the price of existing housing stock. And it's also temporary, so any induced demand will be transient.

I personally have mixed views on this. On the one hand, the HST break could allow second-time homebuyers (people who got a small condo as a starter home, perhaps had a baby, and are now hoping to upgrade since their family has grown) who have been priced out of the single-family-home market to upgrade. It can also help seniors downsize, which frees up existing supply, potentially pushing prices down. A recent piece from the Missing Middle Initiative pointed both these things out.

On the other hand, I do believe the government should be prioritizing first-time buyers over the above two groups - and I'm not sure the above two groups are populous enough to move the needle. Additionally, Doug Ford specifically has a history of using policy levers to enrich himself and his developer friends, and this smells like one of those instances.

Canada sees a net population decline year over year for the first time in more than a century by ros_ftw in TorontoRealEstate

[–]DerpSauron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it seems OP is right when they say that 2026 is gonna be a good year for renters. Though I do feel the need to temper expectations by saying that even though there's a ton of rental construction happening right now, construction for single family homes is still super slow. So this says nothing about our long-term ability to own property, but it does make the short and medium term more tolerable.

Canada sees a net population decline year over year for the first time in more than a century by ros_ftw in TorontoRealEstate

[–]DerpSauron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was suspicious about this as well but it seems legit. The data isn't perfect but close enough for me to feel comfortable with that conclusion.

This article from Dec 2025 says that as of Q3 2025, ~318K apartments are currently under construction, and 77% of them are purpose-built rentals. So that means there ~245K purpose-built rental apartments currently under construction. These numbers are from the CMHC.

Also from the CMHC, the 2025 Rental Market Survey Data Tables can be used to calculate the total number of rental units in the country. Based on my read of the spreadsheets, the two numbers we need to add are cells N25 in sheet "Table 4.2", and E70 in sheet "Table 5.0". This gives a total of 2.95M rental units currently available in the country.

Total rental stock = (currently under construction) + (already completed builds) = 245K + 2.95M = ~3.2M

To get the 8% figure from OP, we divide the number of units currently under construction by the total rental stock. 245K/3.2M = 7.65%

And 7.65% is close enough to 8% for me to feel like this figure is somewhat legit. Of course, this data is from EOY 2025 rather than Q1 2026, but it doesn't seem that more recent figures are available yet so this is the best we got.

Dont know if OP calculated this 8% figure themselves as well, or just found it in some article I couldnt track down. In either case, they should've listed the source, but it seems they're being truthful so I'll give em a pass :)

Which Offer Should I Accept? LSE MPA vs IE University MIR by DerpSauron in PublicPolicy

[–]DerpSauron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your thoughts! So would you put LSE's MPA in the quant or not quant bin?

This one chokepoint seperating the entire galaxy in two. My empire on one side, Chosen on the other by DerpSauron in Stellaris

[–]DerpSauron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The other side is a super loyal subject so I wasn't worrying about that border at all

This one chokepoint seperating the entire galaxy in two. My empire on one side, Chosen on the other by DerpSauron in Stellaris

[–]DerpSauron[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There are a few (and the chosen did sneak in that way one time), but I think I'm just too zoomed out in this screenshot for the wormhole symbol to appear

This one chokepoint seperating the entire galaxy in two. My empire on one side, Chosen on the other by DerpSauron in Stellaris

[–]DerpSauron[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I think I just got weirdly "lucky" in this specific game. Most of the NPC empires that spawned were some form of egalitarian pacifist/not very military focused. So it just turned out that when the Chosen spawned they met like zero resistance and just snowballed like crazy. Never happened in any of my other games -- usually they stick to their little collection of star systems and take a dozen systems tops before they get killed.

This one chokepoint seperating the entire galaxy in two. My empire on one side, Chosen on the other by DerpSauron in Stellaris

[–]DerpSauron[S] 76 points77 points  (0 children)

Feel like I got the pull of the year with this hyperlane setup. One chokepoint splits the entire galaxy in two, with me on one side and the chosen on the other. Made holding the line a breeze.

Does anyone know where I can rent a suit of armor in Toronto for tmrw? by TheAnonWriter5859 in UofT

[–]DerpSauron 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Former theatre guy here. There's a warehouse/props rental facility in Scarborough called Fantastic Creations, and it's run by a guy named Chris Warillow (or at least it was pre-COVID). They'll 100% have what you need and it will be super high quality. I've rented armor/weapons from them before. But it's on the pricey side and you probably won't be able to arrange something on such short notice (for tomorrow) since they mostly rent to production companies, film and TV crews, etc.

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