Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'll take a different view from that of our chairperson when he said that he didn't want a debate between the witnesses. I thought it was one of the most engaging conversations I've heard in committee in quite some time.
Maybe I'll go right to the points of disagreement between—I was going to say “Mr. Cochrane”, but I think you corrected the record and I should acknowledge that—Dr. Cochrane and Mr. Moody. Although I think Mr. Wudrick may have something to add to this debate, I'll limit it to the first two just in the interests of time.
Dr. Cochrane, you've given essentially one of the most concise explanations of modern monetary theory that I've ever heard, in the sense that we can spend money into existence, as you've described, and that the limit is really on the real economy's ability to soak it up.
Mr. Moody, I'm curious, and the first question will be for you.
The Bank of Canada usually sets an inflation target of 2%. We haven't seen inflation to that magnitude in years. In the evidence before the committee over the course of the summer, I think it was former governor Poloz who indicated that deflation represents a very real risk during this pandemic.
I'm curious as to your thoughts on Dr. Cochrane's submission. If you don't agree that MMT is the way to go, which I expect you don't, is there a problem with...? Particularly since we're at the effective lower bound of interest rates presently, is the inflation target wrong or is there a different way to get there?