The Bank of Canada should restore the important role of tracking the money supply as a predictor of future inflation and economic performance, according to a major new book on the conduct of monetary policy from the C.D. Howe Institute.In “Navigating Turbulence: Canadian Monetary Policy Since...

Given the boom in, and media attention surrounding, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), this Commentary asks whether this new type of financing is one that fills a market gap in the financial sector, or is just a way of defrauding unsuspecting retail investors looking to invest in new startups. We...

A new business cycle measurement developed by a C.D. Howe analyst provides further evidence that there was no recession in 2015, according to a new Institute report. In “Taking the Economic Pulse: An Improved Tool to Help Track Economic Cycles in Canada,” author Jeremy Kronick fills a...

The Bank of Canada’s balance sheet has undergone a radical transformation since the beginning of the pandemic. The Bank’s total assets more than quadrupled at their peak and still remain 3.5 times higher. The most radical change on the liabilities side has been the increase in settlement...

This working paper uses an epidemiological-economic model to determine the optimal intervention strategy in order to achieve desired health outcomes while minimizing economic damage. The results show that, compared to a uniform lockdown in which everyone is locked down the same, a targeted...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Canada has cut the overnight rate to 0.25 percent, the threshold it sees as the lower bound for its main policy instrument. At the lower bound, the Bank can no longer use its most direct tool to influence economic activity. The federal government...

This paper sets out to investigate two issues: first, it briefly provides a retrospective look at whether the stance of monetary policy was appropriate for hitting the Bank of Canada’s inflation target during 2018 and 2019, and second, it examines how to determine in real time whether monetary...