Advanced economies must focus on improving productivity in order to achieve long-term sustainable economic growth. Increases in traditional inputs – labour and capital – can only go so far before generating diminishing returns. These economies, such as Canada's, must then look beyond...

In this E-Brief, we focus on the well-established link between regulation/policy and productivity, and explore the regulatory and policy changes needed to boost Canada’s overall and financial services productivity. We look at specific regulations and policies that hinder productivity growth...

The importance of services to Canada's economy is often lost in the discussion of how Canada can take advantage of trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In this Commentary, we look to close this gap with respect to the vital financial services sector. In order to determine the...

Monetary policy transmission from the developed to the developing world.

This paper addresses the debate in the literature on how developing countries are affected by foreign monetary policy shocks. I analyze how contractionary monetary policy shocks originating in different regions, specifically the Euro Area (“EU”) and United States (“US”), affect a set of...

The surge of inflation as economies recovered from the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 took central bankers and most other observers by surprise. Canada was no exception. Year-over-year CPI inflation rose from -0.4 percent at its nadir in May 2020, to a peak of 8.1 percent in June 2022 before...

In the decade leading up to the pandemic, safe assets did not keep pace with global demand. The supply of high-grade government bonds in advanced economies was constrained because budget deficits were declining. At the same time, the demand for these assets increased due to the aging population,...