Category Canadian economy
Paulson, Brown and Harper
Nick Rowe asks why the Brown plan is better than the Paulson plan: The original Paulson plan was for the US government to buy assets from US banks. The Brown plan is for the UK government to buy equity in UK banks. The consensus among economists seems to be that the Brown plan is better […]
Canadian banks: The prodigal sons’ older brothers
Okay, so we're not supposed to be worrying about moral hazard any more. But that doesn't mean it's less annoying to watch your competitors screw up, get bailed out and scoop your business. Ottawa weighs new measures for banks: Ottawa is facing pressure to introduce further backstops for the Canadian banking system, following a series […]
The federal government and the CMHC enter the fray
From a story in today's Globe and Mail: The federal government is moving to backstop the Canadian banks' capacity to lend money in an acknowledgment that not even the country's sturdy banking system is immune to the global financial crisis. A plan originally earmarked for Friday morning would see the government assume some mortgages currently […]
“Canada is not the United States”
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 Canadian home owners are currently in arrears, said Will Dunning, chief economist at the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP), in a report released Monday. This means about 0.3 per cent of Canada's 8.05 million home owners are behind on their mortgages by three months or more, he said. […]
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping
Two stories that just popped up on the Globe and Mail website suggest that claims to the effect that Canada's financial sector is holding up relatively well may not be completely unrealistic: Crisis strengthens Manulife's hand in AIG bid: The chances of Manulife Financial Corp. winning parts of American International Group Inc. are rising sharply […]
“Canada is not the United States”
Stephen Harper has taken a certain amount of flak for saying that phrase. But let's think about it: would it have been better if he had said 'Canada is the United States'? So let's go through the inventory. Today's data for automobile sales in September: Canadian vehicle sales nudge higher in September. Canadians bought more […]
Nick Rowe on the outlook for Canada’s housing market
Carleton University's Nick Rowe left a comment in a previous post that deserves a wider readership. With his permission, I'm recycling it as a guest post: I am less optimistic than you, though I don't think it will be as bad here. But I wish I had better evidence for my belief/hope.House prices in many […]
On the US financial mess and the Canadian real economy
I really wish I could provide you with structured, reasoned post written in full paragraphs that more or less hung together. But I can't: things are moving too quickly, and I promised myself I would work on my SSHRC grant application today. So here are some quick points. The odds of a Canadian version of […]
Mark Carney explains it all for you
I've been at times unimpressed with some of his interest rate decisions, but today's speech on the financial crisis builds on his strength, namely, his knowledge of financial markets. It's worth reading in its entirety, but this paragraph in particular jumped out at me: Canadian institutions are in considerably better shape than their international peers. […]
Merrill Lynch Canada displays the same acumen that sent its parent company to oblivion
I really don't understand this. At all. Canada could be headed for mortgage meltdown, says Merrill Lynch Canada: In a report issued Wednesday, Merrill Lynch Canada economists said many Canadian households are more financially overextended than their counterparts in the United States or Britain. They said it's only a matter of time before the "tipping […]
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