A Driving Force No More: Have Canadian Consumers Reached Their Limits?

In 2007, 2009, 2010 and then again in 2011, CGA-Canada set out to analyse the level of debt of Canadians, and to understand the extent to which the financial crisis and economic downturn worsened the financial situation of households, and whether the economic recovery have eased the financial stress...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc
Main Authors Simonova, Elena, Lefebvre, Rock
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 01.01.2011
Subjects
Households
Public opinion surveys
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Summary:In 2007, 2009, 2010 and then again in 2011, CGA-Canada set out to analyse the level of debt of Canadians, and to understand the extent to which the financial crisis and economic downturn worsened the financial situation of households, and whether the economic recovery have eased the financial stress. That was done by integrating the results of a public opinion survey commissioned by CGA-Canada with an analysis of available statistical information. The results of the analysis show that the financial condition of the aggregate household sector does not appear to be exceedingly distressful; however, focusing on the aggregate household sector conceals the fact that financial situation of certain groups of households may be much worse than average. Our ability to fully assess the state and level of household indebtedness is limited due to limited availability of data, whereas pan-Canadian perspective does not reflect significant regional differences. As such, the state and the dynamic of the household sector's balance sheet should remain high on the radar of policy-makers.