William Robson, president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute, today announced Thorsten Koeppl as a new member of the Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC).

Koeppl is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Queen’s University.

Koeppl has degrees in management and economics from the Universities of Eichstaett/Ingolstadt and Basle, and received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota in 2002. Before his appointment at Queen’s in 2004, he was a research economist at the European Central Bank and a visitor in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His research interests include financial markets infrastructure and development, monetary economics and payment systems, and macroeconomic theory.

Koeppl replaces Richard Harris, Telus Professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University, who has been a member of the MPC since its inception.

The MPC comprises 12 of Canada’s most distinguished financial-market and monetary economists, who convene to discuss the Bank of Canada’s target for the overnight rate shortly before each of the Bank’s interest-rate announcements.

The MPC provides a regular, independent assessment of the central bank’s stance as it seeks to achieve its 2% inflation target.

“Thor Koeppl is one of Canada’s outstanding young, practically minded analysts of financial markets and monetary policy,” said Robson, who is the MPC’s non-voting chair. “His experience with the European Central Bank, and his work on the monetary-policy implications of asset prices and financial market conditions will add a valuable perspective to the MPC’s deliberations.”