House prices have increased significantly in Canada over the past decade, driving household debt and residential construction activity to historical highs. Although macro-prudential tightening has slowed the pace of household borrowing in the last few years, house prices have continued to trend...

Stability is destabilizing. These three words concisely capture the insight that underlies Hyman Minsky's analysis of the economy's transformation over the entire postwar period. The basic thesis is that the dynamic forces of a capitalist economy are explosive and must be contained by...

In the aftermath of the global financial collapse that began in 2007, governments around the world have responded with reform. The outlines of Basel III have been announced, although some have already dismissed its reform agenda as being too little (and too late!). Like the proposed reforms in...

In this paper I will follow Hyman Minsky in arguing that the postwar period has seen a slow transformation of the economy from a structure that could be characterized as "robust" to one that is "fragile." While many economists and policymakers have argued that "no one saw it coming," Minsky and...

In this paper we investigate the interplay between regulatory and monetary policies. We analyze how changes in institutional settings modify the functioning of various channels of monetary transmission. The paper begins with a brief presentation of the main channels of monetary transmission,...

This paper discusses mechanisms to prevent and resolve foreign exchange crises in East Asia. Policies and mechanisms at the country level as well as regional and global levels are discussed. Policies at the level of a particular country to prevent foreign exchange crises include the management...

While there are many methods to measure the competitiveness of an economy, most of these concepts ignore the fact that competitiveness can change because of market processes like wage negotiation but also because of political decision-making. Governments that compete with others for factors of...

This paper provides an alternative interpretation to the financial crisis of 2007-2009 that relies upon “toxic” financial deepening defined as proliferation of financial derivatives. This reduces social capital and trust. The final outcome is that distrust makes financial markets fragile...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored entities (GSEs) designed to facilitate a secondary market for mortgages. A secondary market makes mortgages more liquid, increasing the available pool of funds for mortgages and the willingness of originators to initiate loans. Since the supply...

The article examines the impact of financialization on income inequality between 2004 and 2013, through a panel analysis of seven European countries. Moreover, it attempts to examine differences in the perception of the phenomenon under analysis between the selected European countries belonging...