Are Canada’s macroeconomic policies still effective? In this IRPP series, William White examines Canada’s long-standing policy approaches in the face of new challenges.
As Canada faces powerful economic headwinds — from trade disruption, climate change, AI and more — it is critical to analyze whether our macroeconomic policies are fit for purpose. The 2026 renewal of Canada’s Monetary Policy Framework offers a chance to rethink long-held policy approaches that may no longer serve the country’s best interests.
To provide a fresh perspective, the IRPP invited William White to write a series of commentaries. A leading global macroeconomic expert, White draws on his research and decades of experience at the Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank for International Settlements and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
White was one of the few economists who anticipated the financial crisis of 2007-09. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he identified the likelihood of massive fiscal and monetary stimulus leading first to much higher inflation and then large hikes in policy interest rates. His recent work has focused on the transition from the age of plenty over the previous three-plus decades to the age of scarcity in the 2020s.
Across three commentaries in this IRPP series, White will analyze Canadian macroeconomic policy issues within the broader context of the major challenges facing policy-makers and regulators in advanced economies.
William (Bill) White was Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada (1988 to 1994) and then became the Economic Adviser to the Bank for International Settlements in Basel (1994 to 2008). He served as the Chairman of the Economic and Development Review Committee of the OECD in Paris (2009 to 2018). He was also a member of the Issing Committee (2008-2012), advising the German Chancellor on G20 issues, and sat on the Advisory Board of INET and the Cato Institute (Washington) among others. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the C. D. Howe Institute in Toronto. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Council on Economic Policies (Zurich), OMFIF (London) and MNI-Contact (London). Mr. White’s research interests focus on issues pertaining to monetary and financial stability. His website is www.williamwhite.ca.
