Op-Eds
Published in the Financial Post on July 28, 2015
Steve Ambler is a professor of economics at the Université du Québec à Montréal and the holder of the David Dodge Chair in monetary policy at the C.D. Howe Institute.Colin Busby and Jeremy Kronick are Senior Policy Analysts at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto.
No practicing economist defines recession as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz occasionally has been described as using immoderate language, as in his description of Canada’s economic performance in the first quarter of 2015 as “atrocious.”
More recently, he has received criticism for refusing to speculate on whether Canada is currently in a recession…
Published in the Globe and Mail on July 15, 2015
Steve Ambler is David Dodge Chair in monetary policy at the C.D. Howe Institute and professor at the University of Quebec at Montreal.
The Bank of Canada’s decision to cut its overnight rate target to 0.5 per cent was expected by many in the wake of the disappointing economic news that’s come since the previous announcement in May. Instead of “a return to solid growth in the second quarter,” as the bank predicted then, gross domestic product growth for the entire second quarter may have been negative.
he bank weighs many factors before making a decision on the overnight rate target. The two main ones are the rate of inflation itself and excess capacity…
Published in the Financial Post on July 9, 2015
By Philip Cross
Philip Cross is a Research Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.
Lower interest rates “cause pervasive mispricing in financial markets”
The Canadian and U.S. economy’s unexpected weakness early in 2015 is fanning speculation about lower interest rates, after the Bank of Canada’s surprise cut in mid-January. Before listening to these siren calls for ever more monetary policy stimulus, it would be wise to read the recent annual report of the Bank for International Settlements, the Swiss-based bank for the world’s central banks. Beholden to no government, the BIS speaks with a refreshingly candid, clear and unconventional voice.
The…
Published in the Globe and Mail on September 23, 2014
By Christopher Ragan
Christopher Ragan is an associate professor of economics at McGill University and a Research Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.
Last week my friend sent me a link to a short video ranting about our monetary system. I immediately recognized it as another in a large collection of videos I have seen, many of which are sent to me by students pondering the validity of the central messages – which appear quite at odds with the things I say in class.
These videos are filled with so many misconceptions that anyone studying from them would fail an exam in any respectable economics course. Two big monetary myths stand out from the…
Published in the Globe and Mail on August 12, 2014
By Christopher Ragan
Christopher Ragan is an associate professor of economics at McGill University and a Research Fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute. His latest publication is What Now? Addressing the Burden of Canada’s Slow-Growth Recovery.
Canada is mired in a slow-growth recovery because the United States and Europe are still repairing their economies in the wake of enormous financial crises. As I argue in a recently released paper from the C.D. Howe Institute, as long as the global economy remains fragile, Canada will not return to growth rates anywhere near our pre-crisis standard of 3 per cent.
Much research…
