Crisis and Canada’s Macroeconomic Policy: 2008–2012

Abstract

This paper examines Canada’s macroeconomic policy response to the recent financial crisis. Compared to the economies and financial sectors of its G-7 counterparts, the Canadian economy and the Canadian financial sector came off relatively well. Policy played a role, and the macroeconomic policy stance exhibited a pronounced change over the course of the period from late 2008 to 2012. However, structural features of the Canadian economy, and the particular character of the prevailing regime of accumulation, including the attendant ideology of neoliberalism, constrained the degree to which the policy change was radical and/or transformative. Those structural features also highlight some differences between the respective agendas of fiscal and monetary policy.