The federal government will be increasingly constrained in its ability to provide effective stimulus in response to future severe cyclical economic downturns. Low interest rates restrict the Bank of Canada’s ability to stimulate private demand through interest-rate cuts. Similarly, high public...

In theory, management of public funds by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments reflects the preferences Canadians express through their elected representatives. In practice, the revenues and expenses that Canada’s senior governments report after year-end, and the resulting...

Canadians spend more on end-of-life care than other high-income countries, including the United States, yet we achieve poor results compared to most. There are structural factors and inefficiencies within our healthcare system that facilitate unhelpful and unwanted medical interventions at the...

Recent figures on Canada’s stock of capital and new business investment are worrying. Canada’s capital stock is not keeping pace with its workforce. New business investment per worker is declining. Not only have areas of traditional strength in Canadian business investment –...

Over the past several years, the federal government has consulted widely in formulating new rules for the regulation of brand-name drug prices through the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (PMPRB) and a long-delayed set of rules that are expected to result in large price reductions, now...

Green bonds have become a fixture on global capital markets since they were first introduced in 2007. International development banks have been present in the green bond space from the outset and have been joined by governments, state enterprises, business enterprises, and financial institutions...

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 study considers the issue of Crown corporation governance and whether there is an “optimal” or best approach. The annual commercial operations of Canada’s Crown corporations are equivalent to over 7 percent of Canadian GDP, yet there has been surprisingly little over-arching research...

The Federal Government’s spending and borrowing cushioned the impact of COVID-19 on Canada’s economy, but have put national finances on an unsustainable path. The upcoming budget must make tough choices to put Canada on a path back to fiscal stability. As the health crisis abates, Canada...

Accessible and affordable childcare will play an oversized role in determining whether parents, primarily mothers, can return to their pre-COVID trajectories of employment and wages. That matters because growth in family income during the ’80s and ’90s came largely from rising female labour...