There are two ways to look at economic performance – whether that is your own personal wealth accumulation, the success of a company or even the way an economy performs. The most common uses income metrics.
We look at income levels when measuring personal performance. For companies, this is the top line or profit. And for an economy, we track things like commodity prices. In Saskatchewan, for example, we often look at the price of grain or oil or potash to get a flavour for our economic fortunes.
The second approach is to look at the balance sheet. This is sometimes called a net worth analysis and it looks at how much value we have generated. Basically, it is how much of the income we actually held on to.
One recent measure that fits this category is the annual farmland value report from Farm Credit. It shows Saskatchewan land went up 5.4 per cent last year. That is in the middle of the pack. With a range of $1,900 to $2,300 an acre, it is among the most affordable in the country.
