A practical course on how interest rates are built, set, transmitted, priced by markets, and felt in real decisions.
This course explains interest rates as the price of moving money across time and shows how that price reaches professional and personal decisions. It begins with the components of a rate: real return, expected inflation, default risk, liquidity, and term premium. It then distinguishes nominal from real rates and explains which rate a central bank actually controls.
The course follows policy through the overnight market, corridor systems, open-market operations, short rates, long yields, mortgages, business credit, asset prices, and the real economy. It also explains yield curves, inversion, FOMC decision days, zero-rate policy, QE, and historical cases from Volcker to the 2022-23 hiking cycle. The practical purpose is to help viewers see which rate moved, why it moved, when it reprices, and what decision changes.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This course is designed for accountants, lawyers, advisors, analysts, managers, business owners, and other professionals who need to interpret economic data for work, client advice, business decisions, market context, and personal financial decisions. The concepts apply across markets, with examples drawn from Canadian and United States data.
Associate Professor of Economics | King's University College at Western
Dr. Jason Dean is an economics professor and applied economist with experience teaching macroeconomics, microeconomics, labour economics, economic history, public policy, and applied economic topics to university, college, and professional audiences. He holds a PhD in Economics from McGill University, an MA in Economics from the University of Guelph, and an Honours BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. His academic work focuses on labour markets, immigration, housing, poverty, economic history, and public policy. He has also worked as a health economist and economic research analyst, bringing both academic and applied experience to his teaching. Jason has taught at King’s University College, Wilfrid Laurier University, Sheridan College, McMaster University Continuing Education, McGill University, Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, Renmin University in Beijing, and Wuhan University of Technology. His courses are built to make economic ideas practical, clear, and useful for real decisions. His peer-reviewed research has appeared in journals including Regional Science and Urban Economics, Cliometrica, Journal of Housing Economics, IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Contemporary Jewry, Journal of International Migration and Integration, International Journal of Social Economics, and health economics journals. His policy work has been published through the Montreal Economic Institute, and he has provided media commentary on labour markets, housing, public policy, immigration, and the Canadian economy. Jason’s CPD courses help professionals understand how economic indicators, policy decisions, inflation, GDP, interest rates, labour markets, and consumer demand connect to business conditions, client decisions, financial planning, and the broader economy. Selected Publications: - “Income Decline, Financial Insecurity, Landlord Screening and Renter Mobility,” Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2022. - “The Linguistic Wage Gap in Québec, 1901 to 1951,” Cliometrica, 2022. - “Sexual Orientation and Homeownership in Canada,” Journal of Housing Economics, 2020. - “Does it Matter if Immigrants Work in Jobs Related to their Education?” IZA Journal of Development and Migration, 2018. - “Labour Market Attainment of Canadian Jews During the First Two Decades of the 20th Century,” Contemporary Jewry, 2017. - “Economic Integration of Pre-WWI Immigrants from the British Isles in the Canadian Labour Market,” Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2016. - “Religiosity and Female Labour Market Attainment in Canada: The Protestant Exception,” International Journal of Social Economics, 2016.
Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.
Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.
