C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods

• Multivariate Realized Stock Market Volatility

  Staff Working Paper 2007-20 Gregory Bauer, Keith Vorkink

  We present a new matrix-logarithm model of the realized covariance matrix of stock returns. The model uses latent factors which are functions of both lagged volatility and returns.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, C5, C53, G, G1, G14

• Optimization in a Simulation Setting: Use of Function Approximation in Debt Strategy Analysis

  Staff Working Paper 2007-13 David Bolder, Tiago Rubin

  The stochastic simulation model suggested by Bolder (2003) for the analysis of the federal government's debt-management strategy provides a wide variety of useful information. It does not, however, assist in determining an optimal debt-management strategy for the government in its current form.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): C, C0, C1, C14, C15, C5, C51, C52, C6, C61, C65, E, E6, G, G1, H, H6, H63

• Evaluating Forecasts from Factor Models for Canadian GDP Growth and Core Inflation

  Staff Working Paper 2007-8 Frédérick Demers, Calista Cheung

  This paper evaluates the performance of static and dynamic factor models for forecasting Canadian real output growth and core inflation on a quarterly basis. We extract the common component from a large number of macroeconomic indicators, and use the estimates to compute out-of-sample forecasts under a recursive and a rolling scheme with different window sizes.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E37

• Monetary Policy Committees in Action: Is There Room for Improvement?

  Staff Working Paper 2007-6 Philipp Maier

  More than 80 central banks use a committee to take monetary policy decisions. The composition of the committee and the structure of the meeting can affect the quality of the decision making.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): C, C9, C92, D, D7, D70, E, E5, E58

• Time-Consistent Control in Non-Linear Models

  Staff Working Paper 2007-3 Steve Ambler, Florian Pelgrin

  We show how to use optimal control theory to derive optimal time-consistent Markov-perfect government policies in nonlinear dynamic general equilibrium models, extending the result of Cohen and Michel (1988) for models with quadratic objective functions and linear dynamics. We replace private agents' costates by flexible functions of current states in the government's maximization problem.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Fiscal policy, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, E, E6, E61, E62

• Housing Market Cycles and Duration Dependence in the United States and Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2007-2 Rose Cunningham, Ilan Kolet

  Housing wealth is a large component of total wealth and plays an important role in aggregate business cycles. In this paper, we explore data on real house price cycles at the aggregate level and city level for the United States and Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C4, C41, E, E3, E32, R, R2, R21

• How Far Can Forecasting Models Forecast? Forecast Content Horizons for Some Important Macroeconomic Variables

  Staff Working Paper 2007-1 John Galbraith, Greg Tkacz

  For stationary transformations of variables, there exists a maximum horizon beyond which forecasts can provide no more information about the variable than is present in the unconditional mean. Meteorological forecasts, typically excepting only experimental or exploratory situations, are not reported beyond this horizon; by contrast, little generally accepted information about such maximum horizons is available for economic variables.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53

• Canadian City Housing Prices and Urban Market Segmentation

  Staff Working Paper 2006-49 Jason Allen, Robert Amano, David Byrne, Allan Gregory

  The authors provide a detailed empirical analysis of Canadian city housing prices. They examine the long-run relationship between city house prices in Canada from 1981 to 2005 as well as idiosyncratic relations between city prices and city-specific variables.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C3, C32, R, R2

• Modelling Term-Structure Dynamics for Risk Management: A Practitioner's Perspective

  Staff Working Paper 2006-48 David Bolder

  Modelling term-structure dynamics is an important component in measuring and managing the exposure of portfolios to adverse movements in interest rates.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1

• Stress Testing the Corporate Loans Portfolio of the Canadian Banking Sector

  Staff Working Paper 2006-47 Miroslav Misina, David Tessier, Shubhasis Dey

  Stress testing, at its most general level, is an investigation of the performance of an entity under abnormal operating conditions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, G, G2, G21, G3, G33