It will likely be hard to convince Canadians struggling with newly increased mortgage payments, but until very recently money has been free.
Until recently, during that latest surge in inflation, borrowing to buy something was actually a lot cheaper than waiting to buy it a year later. That is because what economists call real interest rates were negative.
Even this week as the Bank of Canada increased interest rates by another quarter of a percentage point to 4.75, the bank’s benchmark rate remains only slightly higher than the current rise in average prices.
But even that’s relatively new. As Bank of Canada deputy governor Paul Beaudry explained on Thursday
