Marshall defined economics as "the study of mankind in the ordinary business of life ... [It is that] social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and use of the material requests of wellbeing". However, the ordinary business of life is embedded within a larger moral economy of solidarity. Social economics is the study of the principles and problems related to that embedding. The Institute has interests in the economics of non-profits and community banks, rural sustainability, urban design, and sustainable development.
Our initial project in this domain was a submission concerning the Halifax Draft Centre Plan. In 2015, a secondary land-use planning process was initiated for the regional centre of Halifax-Dartmouth to guide property development and use in the capital district. In October 2016, the Draft Centre Plan was released, together with a call for additional public input. The Institute submitted a formal comment on that document:
"Submission on the Hfx Draft Centre Plan" (Halifax, 01 December, 2016).
Anna Leonowens is known in Nova Scotia as one of the organizers of the Victoria School of Art (now NSCAD University) in 1887. She subsequently became involved in organizing the Women's Suffrage Association, where she became the first President. Although Anna was not to live to see it, the political coalition behind women's suffrage was eventually successful with the passing of the Nova Scotia Franchise Act of 26 April, 1918.
