About the conference
Since the mid-1990s, the Bank of Canada's legal mandate has been to target the rate of inflation, and its success in keeping inflation low and stable has been remarkable. But is the current inflation target of 2% right for the country? Would a different mandate be better for the well-being of Canadians? If so, what should that mandate be?
The current inflation-control agreement between the Government of Canada and the Bank of Canada comes to an end in 2021. Maintaining the status quo isn’t the only option. The Bank’s inflation target could be raised or lowered. The Bank could target nominal income growth or the price level. Asset prices could be incorporated into the inflation-targeting framework. Finally, the Bank could adopt a dual mandate whereby it targets both inflation and a real variable such as the unemployment rate or the growth rate of real GDP. All of these options have their advantages and disadvantages, and determining what is technically feasible and also what is best for Canadians is no easy task.
Choosing the Right Target: Real Options for the Bank of Canada’s Mandate Renewal's agenda features the presentation of six possible options for the renewal of the Bank of Canada’s mandate.
- Each option will be thoroughly examined by one author (and all papers will be available to participants). Discussants will react to each of the policy options being presented.
- The conference will also feature a keynote presentation from with Narayana Kocherlakota examinining a: 21st Century Perspective on Central Bank Credibility
- To conclude the conference, a final panel of policy practitioners will evaluate all the options presented, and each panelist will indicate their recommendation.
The authors’ papers, discussants’ comments and a conference summary will be published in a single edited volume — the first of a series of annual conference volumes to be published by the Max Bell School of Public Policy.
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Organizing Committee
Steve Ambler
Professor of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal
Professor Ambler has taught at l’École des sciences de la gestion de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM) since 1985, and has chaired the Department (2012-2015). Ambler has held visiting positions at the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), the European University Institute, the Institut für Höhere Studien in Vienna, and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian central bank).He is the author of numerous articles in journals such as the Journal of Monetary Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking.
He is a past president of the Société canadienne de science économique (1998-1999). He has been an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Economics (1992-1995) and of Canadian Public Policy (1998-2003). He was on secondment to the Bank of Canada as Special Adviser from September 2006 to July 2007. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Economics Association from 2007 to 2012. He is also a senior fellow of the Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
Stephen Gordon
Professor of Economics, University of Laval
Stephen Gordon received his PhD in economics from the University of Toronto in 1990 and has been a professor of economics at Université Laval since 1992. His research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including the Canadian Journal of Economics, the American Economic Review and Social Choice and Welfare. In 2005, he started the economics blog Worthwhile Canadian Initiative. He has written extensively for the Globe and Mail, Maclean's and for the National Post, where he has had a weekly column since 2015.
John Murray
Former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada
John Murray held a number of senior positions during his 34-year career at the Bank of Canada, and served a Deputy Governor from 2008 until his retirement from the Bank in 2014. As a member of the Bank’s Governing Council, he shared responsibility for decisions on monetary policy, financial system stability, and strategic direction.
Dr. Murray holds a BComm from Queen’s University, and an MA and PhD in Economics from Princeton University. Prior to joining the Bank, he was an academic and taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of North Carolina and Princeton.
Chris Ragan
Economics professor and Director, Max Bell School of Public Policy; Chair of Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission
Chris was a member of Finance Minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth, former Special Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada, and also former Clifford Clark Visiting Economist at Finance Canada.
