This is the first episode of Economics Matters, a Conference Board of Canada podcast. This series will bring you some of the leading economic thinkers from Canada and around the world to talk about key issues in the economy.
In our first episode, we deal with one of the biggest questions facing our economy— what is Canada’s risk of falling into a recession and what, if anything, can be done about it. To answer this question, our guests this episode share their views on whether Canada’s recession risk is increasing and provide their suggestions for how policy makers can work to minimize its effects.
About our guests:
Sohaib Shahid is the Director, Economic Innovation at The Conference Board of Canada.
As part of CBoC’s Economic Forecasting Knowledge Area, Sohaib leads the Economic Innovation Team and their new economic product research and development initiatives.
Prior to joining the Board, he was a Senior Economist at TD Bank leading TD’s global economic forecast. He also worked as an Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, DC. Sohaib holds a MA and a PhD in Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
Jimmy Jean is Vice-President, Chief Economist and Strategist for the Desjardins Group.
He directs research, analysis and forecasting and makes positioning recommendations on a variety of issues, including monetary policy, macroeconomic developments and the outlook for interest rates. He acts as Desjardins spokesperson on economic news and major issues affecting the economy and financial markets. He holds a master's degree in applied economics from HEC Montréal and holds the CFA designation.
Before joining Desjardins, Jimmy Jean held the position of Senior Strategist at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. He also worked as an economist at Moody's, RBC and Statistics Canada.