November 19, 2002
Publications
-
-
October 23, 2002
Monetary Policy Report – October 2002
Over the past year, Canada’s economy has outperformed the economies of virtually all the other major industrial countries. -
August 21, 2002
Monetary Policy and Uncertainty
Central banks must cope with considerable uncertainty about what will happen in the economy when formulating monetary policy. This article describes the different types of uncertainty that arise and looks at examples of uncertainty that the Bank has recently encountered. It then reviews the strategies employed by the Bank to deal with this problem. The other articles in this special issue focus on three of these major strategies. -
August 21, 2002
Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002
Cover page
Welland Canal Note
The note, signed by Merritt as company president, measures 184 mm by 82 mm and forms part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.
Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa.
-
August 20, 2002
Information and Analysis for Monetary Policy: Coming to a Decision
This article outlines one of the Bank's key approaches to dealing with the uncertainty that surrounds decisions on monetary policy: the consideration of a wide range of information from a variety of sources. More specifically, it describes the information and analysis that the monetary policy decision-makers—the Governing Council of the Bank of Canada—receive in the two or three weeks leading up to a decision on the setting of the policy rate—the target overnight interest rate. The article also describes how the Governing Council reaches this decision. -
August 19, 2002
Models in Policy-Making
This article examines another strategy in the Bank's approach to dealing with an uncertain world: the use of carefully articulated models to produce economic forecasts and to examine the implications of the various risks to those forecasts. Economic models are deliberate simplifications of a complex world that allow economists to make predictions that are reasonably accurate and that can be easily understood and communicated. By using several models, based on competing paradigms, the Bank minimizes policy errors that could result from relying on one view of the world and one philosophy of model design. The authors review some of the models currently used at the Bank, as well as the role of judgment in the projection process. -
August 18, 2002
The Role of Simple Rules in the Conduct of Canadian Monetary Policy
The third strategy employed by the Bank when dealing with uncertainty is the consideration of appropriate simple reaction functions or "rules" for the setting of the policy interest rate. Since John Taylor's presentation of his much-discussed rule, research on simple policy rules has exploded. Simple rules have several advantages. In particular, they are easy to construct and communicate and are believed by some to be robust, in the sense of generating good results in a variety of economic models. This article provides an overview of the recent research regarding the usefulness and robustness of simple monetary policy rules, particularly in models of the Canadian economy. It also describes and explains the role of simple rules in the conduct of monetary policy in Canada. -
July 24, 2002
Monetary Policy Report Update – July 2002
t the time of the April Monetary Policy Report, it was evident that a robust economic recovery was underway in Canada. -
May 21, 2002
Inflation and the Macroeconomy: Changes from the 1980s to the 1990s
Over the last 10 years, the level of inflation has been much lower than in the previous two decades. At the same time, the behaviour of inflation has changed profoundly. By surveying the data and the economic research, the author first examines changes in the variability, growth rates, and behaviour of some of the major macroeconomic variables during the 1980s and 1990s. He then looks at how these changes are linked to a shift in the approach of monetary policy over the period. Lastly, he reviews the economic benefits that these changes have had for Canada. -
May 21, 2002
Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2002
Cover page
Japanese Hansatsu
The notes on the cover range in value from 5 ryo to 50 mon and date from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. The largest measures 5.5 by 16.8 centimetres. All four pieces are part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.
Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa.