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As the COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold, C.D. Howe Institute experts have been busy tackling the policy challenges that the global pandemic has created. On this page, readers can find our most recent reports from our Crisis Working Groups, Intelligence Memos, op-eds, media appearances and more addressing the issues affecting Canadians and the economy in these troubled…

The Study In Brief As families earn more taxable income, government benefit entitlements are reduced (or “clawed back”) at various phase-out rates, which reduces their overall cost for governments and ensures that they remain targeted to the intended lower-income families. However, benefit reductions act like hidden tax rates: They reduce the effective gain from working to generate additional…

The Study In Brief The surge of inflation as economies recovered from the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 took central bankers and most other observers by surprise. Canada was no exception. Year-over-year CPI inflation rose from -0.4 percent at its nadir in May 2020, to a peak of 8.1 percent in June 2022 before finishing 2022 at 6.3 percent. In this E-Brief, we start with a short overview of…

Executive Summary At the five-month mark, the costs of Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” have soared and spread. The short-term economic costs of the invasion include not only the direct war damage in Ukraine and the immediate consequences of the economic sanctions and counter-sanctions on current economic output in the economies of the combatants, but also the induced negative…

The Study in Brief Simple changes to tax rules can improve retirement security for Canadians, as well as make the retirement system more equitable among different classes of savers, and more efficient at managing longevity risks for capital decumulation. This E-Brief provides a discussion of needed retirement-related tax changes impacting members of capital accumulation plans, such as RRSPs and…