The onset of the pandemic saw a high degree of coordination between our monetary and fiscal authorities. The Bank of Canada lowered its overnight rate to its effective lower bound and engaged in quantitative easing, governments pumped in stimulus and support programs, and the Office of the...

Stablecoins are cryptographic (crypto) assets that are widely used in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and crypto-asset trading strategies. Stablecoins offer the prospect that their “stable value” could potentially increase their use and desirability as a crypto medium of exchange...

For much of the past two decades, interest rates have fallen in Canada (and elsewhere). At the time of writing, however, with inflation well above the Bank of Canada’s 2 percent target, we are headed in the opposite direction. Where we will land over the long haul is unclear. However, it is...

With rising inflation top-of-mind for Canadians, a major question is: Can we predict its future? This Commentary shows that growth in the money supply is a useful predictor of inflation, and examines why and when.Since the early 1990s, the Bank of Canada has pursued a successful...

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...

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,...

When monetary and fiscal policy are in conflict in periods of high inflation, with the Bank raising interest rates while the government increases new spending, the risk of an ever-growing debt burden and even higher inflation increases. However, our research shows that because people are mostly...