Stephen S. Poloz

Governor

Executive

RSS

Bio

Stephen S. Poloz was appointed Governor of the Bank of Canada, effective 3 June 2013, for a term of seven years. As Governor, he is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank and a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He is the current Chair of the BIS Audit Committee and former Chair of the Consultative Council for the Americas.

Born in Oshawa, Ontario, Mr. Poloz graduated from Queen’s University in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received a master’s degree in economics in 1979 and a PhD in economics in 1982, both from the University of Western Ontario. In 2017, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Trent University.

Mr. Poloz first joined the Bank of Canada in 1981 and occupied a range of increasingly senior positions over a 14-year span, culminating in his appointment as Chief of the Bank’s Research Department in 1992. After his departure from the Bank in 1995, he spent four years at BCA Research, where he served as managing editor of its flagship publication, The International Bank Credit Analyst.

Mr. Poloz joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in 1999 as Vice-President and Chief Economist. From 2008 to 2010, he was Senior Vice-President, Financing, with responsibility for all of EDC’s lending programs. In January 2011, he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of EDC, a position in which he served until his appointment as Governor of the Bank of Canada.

Mr. Poloz is a Certified International Trade Professional and a graduate of Columbia University’s Senior Executive Program. He has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., and at the Economic Planning Agency in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Poloz has taught economics at the University of Western Ontario, Concordia University and Queen’s School of Business. He is a past president of the Ottawa Economics Association.

Since 2013, Mr. Poloz has been a member of the Lawrence Centre Advisory Council and has served as chair of the Nominating Committee for the Community Foundation of Ottawa since 2014. He resides in Ottawa with his wife, Valerie. He has two children, Jessica and Nicholas, and he is a grandfather.

Show all

Staff Discussion Papers

Changing Fortunes: Long-Termism—G-Zero, Artificial Intelligence and Debt

Staff Discussion Paper 2019-12 Stephen S. Poloz
This paper discusses three long-term forces that are acting on the global economy and their implications for companies and policy-makers.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Financial stability, International topics, Monetary Policy, Trade Integration, Uncertainty and monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E6, E63, F, F0, F02, F1, F15, F5, F53, F6, H, O, O1, O11, O3, O33

Technological Progress and Monetary Policy: Managing the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Staff Discussion Paper 2019-11 Stephen S. Poloz
This paper looks at the implications for monetary policy of the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning, which is sometimes called the “fourth industrial revolution.”
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, Monetary policy framework, Uncertainty and monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C5, E, E3, O, O1, O11, O3, O33

The Paul Storer Memorial Lecture—Cross-Border Trade Integration and Monetary Policy

Staff Discussion Paper 2016-20 Stephen S. Poloz
In this paper we explore the nexus between cross-border trade integration and monetary policy. We first review the evidence that trade liberalization has increased the degree of integration in North America and conclude that, while robust structural inferences remain elusive, there is sufficient supporting evidence for central banks to treat the issue seriously.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Economic models, Monetary Policy, Trade Integration JEL Code(s): E, E3, E37, E5, F, F1, F4, F41, F6

The Doug Purvis Memorial Lecture—Monetary/Fiscal Policy Mix and Financial Stability: The Medium Term Is Still the Message

Staff Discussion Paper 2016-13 Stephen S. Poloz
In the Doug Purvis Memorial Lecture, Governor Stephen S. Poloz shows how changing the mix of monetary and fiscal policies can yield the same outcomes for growth and inflation, but lead to different results for public sector and private sector debt levels, which can impact financial stability.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, Fiscal Policy, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E37, E5, E6, E63

Integrating Uncertainty and Monetary Policy-Making: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Staff Discussion Paper 2014-6 Stephen S. Poloz
This paper discusses how central banking is evolving in light of recent experience, with particular emphasis on the incorporation of uncertainty into policy decision-making.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, Monetary policy communications, Monetary policy framework, Uncertainty and monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C5, C50, E, E3, E37, E5, E6, E61

Staff Working Papers

The Commodity-Price Cycle and Regional Economic Performance in Canada

Staff Working Paper 1996-12 Mario Lefebvre, Stephen S. Poloz
This paper attempts to provide one interpretation of the broad regional economic history of Canada since the early 1970s. As the title of the paper suggests, we believe that, to a significant degree, regional diversity in economic performance reflects movements in Canada's terms of trade, which very frequently are tied to developments in world commodity markets.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32

The Causes of Unemployment in Canada: A Review of the Evidence

Staff Working Paper 1994-11 Stephen S. Poloz
This paper reviews various competing theories of structural unemployment and considers whether they may be used to explain any of the rise in unemployment experienced by Canada during the most recent economic cycle.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Labour markets

Is Hysteresis a Characteristic of the Canadian Labour Market? A Tale of Two Studies

Staff Working Paper 1992-3 Stephen S. Poloz, Gordon Wilkinson
This paper replicates and extends the econometric work of two previous studies of output-inflation dynamics in Canada -- Fortin (1991) and Cozier and Wilkinson (1991) -- in an attempt to reconcile their divergent conclusions.
Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers

About

Affiliate Sites

Legal

Follow the Bank