Monetary policy

• The Economics of Cryptocurrencies—Bitcoin and Beyond

  Staff working paper 2019-40 Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl

  Since the creation of Bitcoin in 2009, over 2,000 cryptocurrencies have been issued. We evaluate how well a cryptocurrency functions as a payment system.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5, L, L5 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures

• What Does Structural Analysis of the External Finance Premium Say About Financial Frictions?

  Staff working paper 2019-38 Jelena Zivanovic

  I use a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) with sign restrictions to provide conditional evidence on the behavior of the US external finance premium (EFP). The results indicate that the excess bond premium, a proxy for the EFP, reacts countercyclically to supply and monetary policy shocks and procyclically to demand shocks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission

• Home Equity Extraction and Household Spending in Canada

  Staff analytical note 2019-27 Anson T. Y. Ho, Mikael Khan, Monica Mow, Brian Peterson

  We use rich microdata to measure home equity extraction in Canada and track its evolution over time. We find home equity extraction has been rising in recent years and has likely contributed materially to dynamics in household spending.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E2, E21, G, G2, G20 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting

• The Simple Economics of Global Fuel Consumption

  Staff working paper 2019-35 Doga Bilgin, Reinhard Ellwanger

  This paper presents a structural framework of the global oil market that relies on information on global fuel consumption to identify flow demand for oil. We show that under mild identifying assumptions, data on global fuel consumption help to provide comparatively sharp insights on elasticities and other key structural parameters of the global oil market.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, L, L7, L71, Q, Q4, Q41, Q43 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting

• Exchange Rates, Retailers, and Importing: Theory and Firm-Level Evidence

  Staff working paper 2019-34 Alex Chernoff, Patrick Alexander

  We develop a model with firm heterogeneity in importing and cross-border shopping among consumers. Exchange-rate appreciations lower the cost of imported goods, but also lead to more cross-border shopping; hence, the net impact on aggregate retail prices and sales is ambiguous.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F1, F10, F14, L, L8, L81 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness

• The Intergenerational Correlation of Employment: Is There a Role for Work Culture?

  Staff working paper 2019-33 Gabriela Galassi, David Koll, Lukas Mayr

  We document a substantial positive correlation of employment status between mothers and their children in the United States, linking data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the NLSY79 Children and Young Adults. After controlling for ability, education and wealth, a one-year increase in a mother’s employment is associated with six weeks more employment of her child on average.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J22, J6, J62 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply

• A Comprehensive Evaluation of Measures of Core Inflation in Canada: An Update

  Staff discussion paper 2019-9 Helen Lao, Ceciline Steyn

  We provide an updated evaluation of the value of various measures of core inflation that could be used in the conduct of monetary policy. We find that the Bank of Canada’s current preferred measures of core inflation—CPI-trim, CPI-median and CPI-common—continue to outperform alternative core measures across a range of criteria.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission