Monetary Policy & Banking

The Next Generation: Innovating to Improve Indigenous Access to Finance in Canada

— Dec 5, 2023

The Next Generation: Innovating to Improve Indigenous Access to Finance in Canada is a new study that finds a well-functioning Indigenous financial system is essential to promoting investment and economic development and raising living standards in Indigenous communities.

Read the Full Report

Let the Sun Shine In! Policy Transparency Improves Economic Outcomes: The Experience of Monetary Policy with Lessons for Fiscal Policy

— Aug 18, 2023

Let The Sun Shine In: Policy Transparency Improves Economic Outcomes is a new study analyzing the increased transparency at central banks and the enhanced effectiveness of monetary policy over the past half-century, and highlights useful lessons for fiscal policymakers regarding government spending and public debt.

Central Bank Forays Into Unconventional Monetary Policies: Explanation, Assessment, and Implications

— Apr 25, 2023

Central Bank Forays into Unconventional Monetary Policies: Explanation, Assessment, and Implications is a new essay that documents the era of unconventional monetary policies—including Quantitative Easing and Forward Guidance—at both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada, and assesses the effectiveness of these policies with respect to their contribution to macroeconomic stability.

Canada’s Fiscal Policy Has Undermined Efforts to Tackle Inflation

— Apr 6, 2023

Canada’s Fiscal Policy Has Undermined Efforts to Tackle Inflation finds that the federal government’s decision to increase already high levels of spending and continued budget deficits will hinder the Bank of Canada’s efforts to tame inflation.

Recent Monetary Policy & Banking Commentaries and Blog Posts

Bank of Canada missteps helped fuel today's inflation

Herbert Grubel, John Greenwood

In recent decades, central banks have fought inflation using interest rates instead of monetary growth.

Politicians should leave monetary policy to the Bank of Canada

Lawrence Schembri

Appeared in the Globe and Mail, October 24, 2023

Annual inflation peaked at 8.1 per cent in June 2022, well above the bank’s 2 per cent target.

Federal government should take accountability lessons from the Bank of Canada

Lawrence Schembri, Steven Globerman

Appeared in the Financial Post, August 18, 2023

The government's debt-to-GDP ratio has risen consistently since 2015.

Higher interest rates—the effects on Canadians today and tomorrow

Livio Di Matteo

Even after inflation is brought to heel, Canadians should not expect interest rates to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Rising prices at the grocery store—it’s complicated

Jock Finlayson

Appeared in the Ottawa Sun, May 10, 2023

In March, food prices were 9 per cent higher than a year earlier.