Carolyn Wilkins: (S)low for long and financial stability
Remarks by Ms Carolyn Wilkins, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, at the Official
Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum City Lecture, London, United Kingdom, 14 September
2016.
* * *
I would like to thank Stephen Murchison, José Dorich and Grahame Johnson for their help in
preparing this speech.
Introduction
Let me first thank the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum for inviting me here
today. For policy-makers like me, the Forum's analysis and commentary are invaluable.
Central bankers and fellow policy-makers around the world have dedicated the eight years since
the global financial crisis to rebooting their economies and repairing their financial systems.
Given the added challenges of a number of sovereign debt crises, an oil price shock and, most
recently, the unfolding fallout from Brexit, it is understandable that we have devoted a lot of
energy to avoiding another financial meltdown and keeping the recovery on track. It is perhaps
not as epic a journey as in Homer's classic, but this odyssey has certainly proven long and
perilous.
Eight years into this journey, there is an urgent need for all of us to consult the map to see where
we are headed over the longer run, and to take strategic decisions to help us avoid unnecessary
trouble ahead. We all know that, cyclical factors aside, demographic trends and other structural
factors are acting as a drag on the global economy's potential to grow. This surely worries all of
you here, since growth is what ultimately drives the returns on your investments and your job
prospects. And with economies expanding more slowly, having growth that is inclusive is more
important than ever.
Slow growth worries me as a central banker, not only because it reduces our room to
manoeuvre to achieve our inflation target. It also worries me because slower potential growth
materially increases risks to financial stability.
To explain these concerns, I will start with a view on the long-term prospects for economic
growth and real interest rates. I will then give you some examples of how these prospects could
translate into increased financial system vulnerabilities. I do not believe we are powerless,
though, so I will end by outlining some promising strategies that could lead us safely to a
sustainable and solid growth path.
The long and winding road
Economic growth around the world since the crisis has repeatedly surprised economists on the
downside and has led to the term: "serial disappointment." The Bank of Canada's own forecasts
overestimated global growth by an average of half a percentage point each year in the past four.
1
Private sector consensus forecasts were off by even more.
The slow and halting recovery is partly the result of a number of cyclical factors that are taking
years to sort out, including deleveraging in the private and public sectors. It is also the result of
deeper structural trends that are driving down the global economy's potential to grow.
Potential GDP growth at the global level declined from a peak of about 5 per cent in 2005 to just
2
over 3 per cent this year, according to Bank of Canada estimates. This is huge. A
2-percentagepoint reduction in global potential growth translates into US$1 1/2 trillion in foregone output
around the world in 2016 alone. If that pace is maintained, foregone output will rise to just under
US$9 trillion five years from now. The slowdown has been widespread, although potential growth
varies widely across countries. China's potential growth is estimated to be around 6 1/2 per cent,
3
down from just over 10 per cent. In advanced economies, it is much lower-around 1 1/2 per
4
cent in Canada and around 1 3/4 per cent in the United States, for example.
Potential output is made up of two parts-labour supply and labour productivity. Both are
contributing to the slowdown in global potential growth. Labour force trends will continue and the
numbers are striking: growth in the working-age population will fall at the global level from around
5
1 per cent to 0.6 per cent over the next two decades.
It is difficult to precisely quantify the impact of demographic factors in terms of growth because a
tighter labour market should, over time, drive wages up. Higher wages may persuade some
workers to postpone retirement or join the labour force but are unlikely to reverse the tide. So far
in Canada, demographic effects have been only partly mitigated by increased participation rates
6
of older workers.
The wild card here is the second component of potential output-labour productivity. Unlike the
growth of the workforce, which is mostly driven by demographic trends that are predictable and
evolve at a glacial pace, productivity growth can change more quickly. And big technological
innovations that fuel sea changes in productivity-such as electricity and the semiconductor-
are difficult to foresee.
So far this century, productivity growth has been hardly encouraging. The effects of the
information technology revolution on productivity growth are fading and the rate of adoption of
new technologies is slowing. An additional source of drag has come more recently from a
significant slowdown in business investment which is in large part related to lingering uncertainty
7
and a steep decline in global trade growth.
The medium-term outlook for potential output growth could be more positive if tighter labour
markets do eventually lead to wage increases and incite more investment in productive capital,
8
and if there are major advances in technology that we have not yet imagined. Without a
meaningful rebound in productivity, population aging will lead to even lower potential growth than
9
in past decades.
Natural by-products of slower potential growth are not only weaker corporate profits and
dividends, but also a lower average rate of return on investments. One way to gauge this effect is
to estimate the neutral rate of interest; here I am referring to the risk-free real interest rate that
would prevail over the medium term if the global economy were operating at its potential, after the
effects of all cyclical forces had dissipated. This neutral rate would be just right to balance the
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full-employment level of savings and investment.
In a lower-growth environment, businesses invest less and therefore have lower financing needs.
This drives down the neutral rate, since a lower level of interest rates is required to equate
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savings with investment. This is one of the key reasons why we have reduced our estimate of
the neutral real rate for Canada over the past couple of years. It is about 1 1/4 per cent now,
down from about 3 per cent in the early 2000s. Estimates are highly uncertain, so it is best to put
a range of +/- 50 basis points around these numbers.
Global potential growth is not the only determinant of the neutral rate. There is also the increase
in global savings witnessed over the past decade and a half, the lingering effects of the financial
crisis on investment demand and post-crisis financial reforms. And while we often talk about the
existence of a "global" neutral rate, an array of factors like country-specific risk premiums push
interest rates to different levels across countries.
It is essential to keep an eye on where the neutral rate is, since the stance of monetary policy
can be measured as the gap between the level of the policy rate and the neutral rate. Some
economists, most prominently Harvard Professor Lawrence Summers, think there is a risk that
the neutral rate is so low in some economies that the effective lower bound is preventing central
banks from providing sufficient monetary stimulus. They argue that the structural factors that are
responsible for the low neutral rate could persist well into the future, contributing to "secular
stagnation."
In Canada, with the target for the overnight interest rate currently set at 0.5 per cent, we judge
monetary policy to be quite stimulative, although less so than it would have been a decade ago
when the neutral rate was higher. At the same time, as population aging continues, the neutral
rate could fall further, unless productivity growth picks up or global savings fall. And the longer
weak investment persists, the more important this risk becomes.
The link between slow growth and financial stability
While we typically link financial stability risks to unsustainably high growth, slower growth and
lower returns can also add to vulnerabilities in the financial system through a number of
channels. Let me talk about three.
The first is a macroeconomic channel that works through households. Years of low interest rates
have, by design, encouraged growth in household credit, leaving many highly indebted. In
Canada, average household debt is around 165 per cent of disposable income. As average
household income growth slows, we can expect that economic shocks-such as foreign
demand shocks that reduce demand for exports or changes in commodity prices that adversely
affect a country's terms of trade-will result in more frequent and longer periods of shrinking
incomes. This is due to two related factors. The first is just simple arithmetic: the lower the
average growth rate of household income, the more likely it is adverse shocks will push it
negative.
The second factor is a bit more subtle. A lower neutral rate also makes it more likely that interest
rates will be constrained by the effective lower bound, meaning monetary policy will have less
scope to support income growth during periods of economic weakness.
To get a better sense of the practical importance of these factors, we ran simulations with the
12
Bank of Canada's main policy model. They show that, for Canada, the lower neutral rate
means that the probability of being at the effective lower bound-which we assume to be -0.5
13
per cent-has gone up from around 1 1/2 per cent to around 7 per cent.
Our simulations also confirm that there would be more episodes when the income of
workingage individuals actually declined. And the median duration of those episodes would increase from
three to six months, or perhaps more if low-income households bear the brunt of the growth
slowdown. This would make households more vulnerable, particularly if they are already highly
indebted. This is because the debt burdens of households, relative to incomes, would rise more
frequently than in the past. And this would typically happen when growth is weak and businesses
and financial institutions are also relatively more vulnerable.
Of course, how worried we should be about indebtedness is related not only to income but also
to the value of debtors' assets. When it comes to households, the most important asset in many
jurisdictions is residential property. In Canada, housing equity represents about one third of total
household assets. While demographic forces have been a source of upward pressure on house
prices in the past, continued population aging and slower population growth going forward
suggest a reversal of this trend. All else being equal, demographics will weigh on the demand for
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housing. Any price effect would directly impact the net wealth of households, at least in the
transition period.
Obtaining a reliable estimate of the impact of demographics on house prices is very difficult.
Much will depend on the response of housing supply and the extent to which older households
downsize. Other factors will also have an influence on housing markets in Canada and
elsewhere, many of which could work in the opposite direction. For instance, it will also depend
on how much urbanization and immigration bolster demand. The relative importance of these
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other factors will differ within and across jurisdictions. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that
relying on housing wealth will yield the expected payoff.
The second channel through which slower growth and lower returns affect financial stability
relates to risk taking. As households cope with shifts in the valuation of their main asset, they
may also face lower returns on other investments because of the lower neutral interest
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rate. And since people are living longer, they may need more savings for their retirement years.
Predicting the precise impact of lower interest rates on household savings is difficult because not
all households will choose the same strategy. Empirical studies find that household savings will
17
typically decline when interest rates fall. This suggests that workers, instead of saving more,
generally choose to invest in riskier assets, work longer or earn lower retirement incomes. But
these are not normal times, and with interest rates so low for so long, there may be a point at
which we observe higher savings.
Asset and pension fund managers also face increased incentives to take on more risk with a
lower neutral rate. Defined-benefit pension plans are in a particularly difficult position: funding and
benefit levels were set based on shorter lifespans, a smaller number of retirees relative to the
working-age population, higher discount rates and higher expected asset returns. Not
surprisingly, the funding status of major defined-benefit pension plans, both public and private,
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has deteriorated. Defined-contribution plans are also facing pressures-the amount that
individuals need to contribute to fund a given level of nominal retirement income has increased
substantially.
Although they may turn to increased contributions or lower benefits over time, many pension
funds are adopting strategies that include a larger share of alternative assets in an effort to
generate higher returns. Some pension funds are also taking on more leverage. Large
definedbenefit plans have the scale and expertise to diversify into less-liquid assets and into regions with
higher expected returns, including in emerging markets that have relatively higher potential to
grow.
They also have a greater ability than many other investors to weather short-term market volatility
-and even take advantage of it-because their liabilities are largely long term and their funding is
secure. Nonetheless, pension funds are often large participants in the financial system, as they
are in Canada, and so risks in this sector merit careful monitoring.
Individual investors face similar challenges. As rates of return available from public bond and
equity markets decline, they too are searching for alternative sources of yield. The investment
industry has responded by creating fund products based on non-traditional, less-liquid underlying
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assets that expand the range available to individual investors but also carry risks. Alternative,
open-ended mutual funds are an interesting example. They appear to offer daily liquidity for
underlying assets that can be very illiquid, such as commercial real estate or commercial bank
loans. In reality, this practice could result in redemptions being suspended, as we saw with some
UK property funds in the wake of Brexit.
Market participants investing in a wider universe of riskier assets may be desirable if it increases
access to funding for productive projects. The crucial question is whether investors can properly
price and manage the risks. History is rife with examples of when excessive and prolonged
search for yield ended badly.
The third channel relates to bank business models. In most economies, the banking system is
integral to the provision of credit to households and businesses and therefore the efficient
transmission of monetary policy. However, banks can also be the source of financial instability.
In principle, a key determinant of a bank's level of profitability is net interest margin-the
difference between what they charge on loans and what they pay for funding. At first glance,
there is no theoretical reason banks could not achieve their desired margins even if the neutral
rate is lower. In practice, however, problems arise when policy rates drop to very low levels. This
is because banks do not always have the flexibility to reduce their funding costs in line with the
declines in their interest income. In particular, banks have proven reluctant to pass lower interest
rates-especially negative rates-on to their retail deposit base. In the United States,
for example, net interest margins narrowed by about 20 per cent between 2010 and 2015.
Without significant adjustments to expectations for returns on equity, these pressures on
margins could prompt banks to change their business models and shift activity away from
deposit-based lending toward other activities. That said, banks are limited by Basel rules on
capital, leverage and liquidity in the amount of additional risk they can take on.
The demographic trends and other factors that have contributed to the decline in the neutral rate
will also likely have implications for how banks do business. As aging baby boomers switch from
saving to dissaving, the mix of banking products will adapt. Weaker housing demand could
reduce the demand for mortgage and consumer credit, including home equity lines of credit. In
fact, housing itself is transitioning from being a savings vehicle to a dissaving one, through
products such as reverse mortgages, and may even drive innovation in the provision of financial
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services.
Pressures on bank business models come at a time when banks are also facing increased
competition for profitable segments of the value chain, such as payments and data. Clearly,
banks are adapting in response to these pressures. At the same time, important financial
activities and related risks are migrating to the less-regulated sector. While financial reform has
reduced the likelihood of instability coming from banks, these trends merit monitoring.
Taking the long way home
These risks may at times be reminiscent of Odysseus's voyage back to Ithaca. Unlike
Odysseus, though, we are not at the mercy of the gods. There are some promising strategies to
mitigate the risks ahead.
The first is to promote a sound global financial system. G20 countries have to complete the
postcrisis financial reforms they have agreed to, whether those reforms are related to banks, financial
market infrastructures or non-bank financial intermediation. We saw some of the benefits of
increased bank capital and liquidity in terms of market functioning in the aftermath of the Brexit
vote. It is still early days for financial reform, though, and we may not have gotten everything
perfectly right. The Financial Stability Board is appropriately focused on measuring the effects of
the reforms, including those on financial market functioning and cross-border financial market
integration. Another important aspect that should be considered, where possible, is the impact on
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wealth and income distribution.
A sound financial system also requires macroprudential tools to lean against credit cycles. The
effects of downturns in these cycles can be very costly and difficult to clean up. Monetary policy
is too blunt an instrument to fine-tune credit cycles. That is why macroprudential measures
22
aimed at specific sectors are a better way to address financial vulnerabilities.
The second strategy is to adopt policies that promote growth. You will not be surprised to hear
that, as a central banker, I think that monetary policy best contributes to the overall health of the
economy by keeping inflation low and predictable. In pursuit of this goal, monetary policy can at
times ease the financial stability risks associated with negative shocks that reduce households'
disposable incomes and their ability to service existing debt. This was the case in Canada when
we lowered our policy rate twice in 2015 in response to the oil price shock.
At the same time, the scope for monetary policy to offset negative demand shocks will be more
limited as we face a lower neutral rate. As was discussed at length in Jackson Hole last month,
central banks have developed other tools, like quantitative easing and productive uses of their
23
balance sheets. The efficacy and long-term effects of unconventional tools will only be known
over time.
There is another reason we should not count on monetary policy to solve everything. Monetary
policy is not well suited to deal with structural problems, and today's challenges go far beyond
temporary shocks. Fiscal policy can be a powerful tool to boost growth, from both the demand
and supply sides. Infrastructure spending can be particularly effective if it raises trend labour
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productivity, since it can help raise potential growth and ease pressures on the neutral rate.
That said, government spending cannot solve everything either. We know that an aging
population will put pressure on public finances through pensions and healthcare spending.
When I was at the G20 meeting in Chengdu this summer, we reiterated the urgency of a
comprehensive strategy to achieve a stronger trajectory for global growth. In addition to
investment in infrastructure, countries agreed to raise potential growth by reforming their product
and labour markets, as well as their tax systems, and to develop policies to support innovation
25
and enhance trade.
The last strategy I'll mention is crucial: we have to adapt to the new reality of lower potential
growth. That means changing our investment strategies and risk-management practices to
reflect lower rates of return for any given level of risk. For households, this may mean saving
more before retirement or planning for a lower post-retirement income. It also means
acknowledging a reduced capacity to grow out of existing debts. The faster we do this, the safer
the financial system will be.
Conclusion
Let me wrap up. At one point in their journey, Odysseus and his men come across an island
inhabited by lotus-eaters. The fruit of the lotus makes those who eat it forget about their journey
-so much so that Odysseus has to force a couple of his companions back on the ship to
continue the trip home with him.
It strikes me that we may be at a similar point: after what we have been through, it is tempting to
enjoy some respite from our own long journey. We cannot. If there is one thing we have learned
from the past decade, it is that imbalances can take a long time to develop and even longer to
resolve.
Investors and market participants have to adapt to lower neutral rates. Countries must continue
to work to meet their G20 commitments and take fiscal and structural measures that will improve
long-term growth. Authorities have to continue to solidify the global financial system and guard
against emerging problems.
It is a long road, but it is the one that will get us safely home.
Content Type(s): Press, Speeches
Economists call "potential output" the maximum output that an economy can generate without sparking
inflationary pressures. Over time, an economy is expected to operate at its potential, with inflation steady. When
it does, the growth rate of potential output determines the pace of economic activity.
3
J. Bailliu, M. Kruger, A. Toktamyssov and W. Welbourn, "How Fast Can China Grow? The Middle Kingdom's
Prospects to 2030," Bank of Canada Staff Working Paper No. 2016-15 (April 2016).
4
A. Agopsowicz, D. Brouillette, S. Cao, N. Kyui and P. St-Amant, "April 2016 Annual Reassessment of Potential
Output in Canada," Bank of Canada Staff Analytical Note No. 2016-4 (April 2016).
5
According to United Nations population projections of the 15-64 age group, as published in the 2015 Revision
of World Population Prospects. For access to the database, go to esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/.
6
See C. Cheung, D. Granovsky and G. Velasco, "Changing Labour Market Participation Since the Great
Recession: A Regional Perspective," Bank of Canada Staff Discussion Paper No. 2015-2 (February 2015).
7
For a discussion of the linkages between trade and productivity, see S. S. Poloz, "A New Balance Point: Global
Trade, Productivity and Economic Growth" (speech to the Investment Industry Association of Canada and
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, New York, 26 April 2016); C. Constantinescu, A. Mattoo
and M. Ruta, "Does the Global Trade Slowdown Matter?" Journal of Policy Modeling (forthcoming); and S.
Fischer, "Remarks on the U.S. Economy" (speech to The Aspen Institute, Aspen, Colorado, 21 August 2016).
8
Another key factor going forward will be global migration. If unemployed workers can relocate to where their
labour is employed more fully and productively, this could help offset the effects of demographic forces.
9
According to projections by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), after a very
brief recovery from the recent crisis, global potential growth will continue to decline until 2060. OECD, "Growth
Prospects and Fiscal Requirements over the Long Term," in OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2013 Issue 1:
193-221.
10
This should not be confused with the short-term or contemporaneous concept of neutral, which is the interest
rate that would be required to equate an economy's output with its potential at a given point in time.
11
While we expect retirees to transition from saving to dissaving, our research finds this is only a partial offset. R.
R. Mendes, "The Neutral Rate of Interest in Canada," Bank of Canada Staff Discussion Paper No. 2014-5
(September 2014).
12
The Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM). The simulation results are based on the same distribution of
shocks as observed over the 1995Q1-2015Q2 sample. Canada's potential GDP growth is estimated to have
fallen from just under 4 per cent in 2000 to around 1 1/2 per cent today.
13
The simulations also show that the average time spent at the effective lower bound would increase from about
1.5 to 6.5 quarters.
14
E. Takáts, "Ageing and Asset Prices," Bank for International Settlements Working Papers No. 318 (August 2010).
15
In countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, population growth, migration and urbanization have
contributed to a rise in house prices since the mid-1990s. See L. Schembri, "The Long-Term Evolution of House
Prices: An International Perspective" (speech to the Canadian Association for Business Economics, Kingston,
Ontario, 25 August 2015).
16
When the neutral rate falls, asset prices should rise, all else being equal, because the rate at which future cash
flows are discounted declines. The gains in asset prices would help buffer the initial impact on pre-existing
holders of assets. Nevertheless, over time, lower returns would be unavoidable.
17
For surveys of the literature, see R. H. DeFina, "The Link Between Savings and Interest Rates: A Key Element in
the Tax Policy Debate," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review (November/December 1984):
15-21; and L. Rachel and T. D. Smith, "Secular Drivers of the Global Real Interest Rate," Bank of England Staff
Working Paper No. 571 (December 2015).
18
According to a 2015 survey conducted by Mercer, the average funding level for pension funds sponsored by S&P
1500 companies is 79 per cent. By comparison, the funds were fully funded before the global financial crisis.
See www.mercer.com/newsroom/september-2015-pension-funding.html.
For a discussion of those risks, see S. Ramirez, J. S. Jimenez and J. Witmer, "Canadian Open-End Mutual
Funds: An Assessment of Potential Vulnerabilities," Bank of Canada Financial System Review (June 2015): 47-
55.
20
A reverse mortgage lets owners borrow against their home equity, allowing them to turn it into cash without
having to sell the home or making regular payments. Interest accrues on the value of the loan, which is repaid in
full upon the sale of the house. See www.fcac-
acfc.gc.ca/eng/resources/publications/mortgages/Pages/Understa-Comprend.aspx.
21
For an example of this type of analysis, see J. Schroth, "Financial Crisis Interventions," Bank of Canada Staff
Working Paper No. 2016-29 (June 2016).
22
Macroprudential tools are regulatory measures used to promote the safety of the entire financial system. For
more on the complementarity of monetary policy and macroprudential measures, see T. Lane, "Monetary Policy
and Financial Stability-Looking for the Right Tools" (speech to the HEC Montréal, Montréal, 8 February 2016).
23
J. L. Yellen, "The Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy Toolkit: Past, Present, and Future" (speech to a symposium
sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 26 August 2016).
24
S. Leduc and D. Wilson, "Roads to Prosperity or Bridges to Nowhere? Theory and Evidence on the Impact of
Public Infrastructure Investment," National Bureau of Economic Research, NBER Working Paper No. 18042
(May 2012).
25
These efforts are part of the G20's "2 in 5" ambition that was adopted by the G20 in 2014. At the 2014 Brisbane
Summit, G20 Leaders endorsed the comprehensive growth strategies initiative, which was designed to lift GDP
by more than 2 per cent above the baseline trajectory over the following five years.