Bank of Canada Review

This issue features a summary of the Bank’s annual conference, which took place in November 2011 and dealt with payments systems, and two articles that present research by Bank staff on global current account imbalances and macrofinancial risk assessment. The fourth article in this issue reviews the recent experience with inflation targeting.

This special issue, “Household Finances and Financial Stability,” examines recent Bank of Canada research into two interrelated facts: the steady increase in Canadian household indebtedness in recent decades, and the upward trend in real house prices in Canada since 2000. Rising house prices could lead to the accumulation of debt, and abrupt movements in either factor can influence the financial health of households, which are a central part of Canada’s economy.