Jean Boivin was appointed Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada in March 2010. In this capacity, he is one of two deputy governors responsible for overseeing the Bank's analysis of domestic and international economic developments in support of monetary policy decisions. As a member of the Bank's Governing Council, he shares responsibility for decisions with respect to monetary policy and financial system stability, and for setting the strategic direction of the Bank.
Prior to becoming a Deputy Governor, Mr. Boivin was a Special Adviser to the Governor for 2009-10. This position gives university and private sector professionals in economics and finance first-hand knowledge of the Bank of Canada and brings additional perspectives to the Bank's monetary policy discussions.
Before joining the Bank, Mr. Boivin was a professor and held the Chair of Monetary Policy and Financial Markets of the Institute of Applied Economics at HEC Montréal. Mr. Boivin was a member of the Monetary Policy Council at the C.D. Howe Institute, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Fellow of the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en analyse des organisations (CIRANO). He has taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and has published widely in the areas of monetary policy, interest rates, inflation, and international economics.
Mr. Boivin is a native of Chicoutimi, Quebec. He holds a BA (1995) in economics from the Université de Montréal and both an MA (1997) and a PhD (2000) in economics from Princeton University.
Deputy Governor Jean Boivin discusses aging in Canada and its impact on our economy.
Deputy Governor Jean Boivin discusses the Bank of Canada’s current economic outlook, the road from recession to recovery, and the Bank’s four main responsibilities.
In his speech entitled “How People Think and How it Matters,” delivered to the Canadian Association for Business Economics, Deputy Governor Jean Boivin reviews various ways people form expectations and how these affect monetary policy.
Barely three years ago, the financial crisis was a source of major concern worldwide. This unprecedented event had serious and costly repercussions, which we continue to feel today.
As the title of my speech suggests, I would like to discuss the connections between the real economy – the tangible world of jobs, goods and services – and the more intangible world of finance – of money flows, interest rates and the stock market. They have a long and eventful history.
The authors examine whether monetary policy should and could do more to lean against financial imbalances (such as those associated with asset-price bubbles or unsustainable credit expansion) as they are building up, or whether its role should be limited to cleaning up the economic consequences as the imbalances unwind. Effective supervision and regulation are the first line of defence against financial imbalances. An important question is whether they should be the only one. The authors argue that the case for monetary policy to lean against financial imbalances depends on the sources of the shock or market failure and on the nature of the other regulatory instruments available. To the extent that financial imbalances are specific to a sector or market and that a well-targeted prudential tool is available, monetary policy might play a minor role in leaning against the imbalances. However, if the imbalances in a specific market can spill over to the entire economy and/or if the prudential tool is broad based, monetary policy is more likely to have a role to play. In such a case, there may be a need to coordinate the use of the two policy instruments.
: Financial system regulation and policies; Monetary policy framework
