The subprime financial crisis has forced several central banks to take extraordinary measures and to modify some of their operational procedures. These changes have made the deficiencies and lack of realism of mainstream monetary theory even clearer, as can be seen in undergraduate textbooks as...

The history of the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve System is intertwined not only because of geographical proximity but because of the reciprocal influence on the way they have evolved their structures to conduct monetary policy. While both find their origins in financial crises, the...