Monetary Policy & Banking

Reforming BC Auto Insurance to Benefit Consumers

— Oct 29, 2020

Reforming BC Auto Insurance to Benefit Consumers finds that the Government of British Columbia’s ICBC reforms haven’t gone far enough and maintain ICBC’s monopoly on basic automobile insurance—which keeps rates higher than they would be in a more open insurance market.

The Costs of Slow Economic Growth: Collected Essays

— Oct 10, 2019

The Costs of Slow Economic Growth finds that from 2011 to 2018, Canada experienced an annual economic growth rate of 2.17 per cent. But that an annual rate of 3 per cent would spur an approximately $45,000 increase in Canada’s per-person income after 20 years.

Recent Monetary Policy & Banking Commentaries and Blog Posts

Canada’s fiscal situation near crisis levels

Livio Di Matteo

Federal net debt for 2020-21 will likely exceed $1.1 trillion.

We do not need a wealth tax

Philip Cross

Appeared in the Financial Post, October 22, 2020

At the end of 2019, household net worth in Canada stood at $11,876 billion compared to $622 billion for corporations.

Ottawa reducing value of money and spending billions

Fred McMahon

Appeared in the Edmonton Sun, October 7, 2020

Inflation peaked at 14 per cent in Canada and the U.S.

On the Passing of Harvard economist Alberto Alesina

Niels Veldhuis, Jake Fuss, Alex Whalen

Alesina specifically noted the experience of Canada in the mid-1990s.

Modern Monetary Theory, Part 4: MMT and quantitative easing

Steven Globerman

Since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, central banks in Canada and elsewhere have pursued quantitative easing.