Staff research

The current monetary policy framework of the Fed intends to be more ’inclusive’ by running the economy hot for longer during expansions.

We study household mortgage choice in a model with three mortgage contracts that differ in their payment structures: fixed-rate fixed-payment, variable-rate variable-payment, and a hybrid variable-rate fixed-payment mortgage where interest rate changes affect principal repayment rather than payment size. We calibrate the model to match mortgage choice patterns in Canada, where all these options are offered with short terms. We demonstrate that restricting contract choice or mandating long terms, as in the U.S. system, can lead to substantial welfare losses by limiting risk management strategies and increasing mortgage pricing ex-ante.

Canadians usually pay their mortgages on time. But some fall behind on mortgage payments. Before they do, homeowners often increase their use of credit cards and lines of credit, and then fall behind on those payments.

Analyzing TransUnion data from 2015–2024, this study identifies a systematic timeline of distress where rising credit utilization and non-mortgage arrears precede mortgage delinquency by up to two years. This deterioration intensifies in the final six months, providing a robust suite of high-frequency indicators for monitoring emerging household stress.

Canada and the United States have both benefited from decades of free trade. But US tariffs significantly changed this relationship, and Canadians reacted. In our research, we explore the Buy Canadian sentiment one year after it emerged and measure how much it has shifted travel patterns and spending in grocery stores.

We use Canadian data to examine how monetary policy affects house prices and the consumer price index for rent through exogenous changes in the mortgage interest rates. It finds that the price and rent impacts operate through various channels and that these impacts vary by region.

Global supply chains have been working well despite abrupt shifts in US trade policy and rising global tensions in 2025. A big reason for this is that companies have improved how goods are shipped and warehoused to keep products flowing around the world. But these supply chains could be tested even more if the trade conflict worsens.

We consider two trade-offs inherent to extraordinary forward guidance (EFG): potency versus flexibility, and the credibility of forward guidance versus the credibility of inflation targeting. We argue that the form of EFG used by the Bank of Canada during the COVID‑19 pandemic balanced both trade-offs relatively well.

An economy with fixed amortization mortgages and borrowing-constrained consumers leads to the level of inflation targeted having real effects on home ownership, consumption, and debt. Using a life-cycle housing tenure choice model, we show that by front-loading real mortgage payments, higher inflation lowers steady-state home ownership and the mortgage-debt-to-income ratio.

Hedge funds are active in Canadian government bond markets and help improve market efficiency. But their trading strategies are not well understood. We offer insights into the range of strategies hedge funds use beyond the more commonly known cash-futures basis trade. We also explore the concentration of trading activity among a few large funds.