D - Microeconomics

• Online Privacy and Information Disclosure by Consumers

  Staff Working Paper 2019-22 Shota Ichihashi

  A consumer discloses information to a multi-product seller, which learns about the consumer’s preferences, sets prices, and makes product recommendations. While the consumer benefits from accurate product recommendations, the seller may use the information to price discriminate.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, D83

• Central Bank Communication That Works: Lessons from Lab Experiments

  Staff Working Paper 2019-21 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Luba Petersen

  We use controlled laboratory experiments to test the causal effects of central bank communication on economic expectations and to distinguish the underlying mechanisms of those effects. In an experiment where subjects learn to forecast economic variables, we find that central bank communication has a stabilizing effect on individual and aggregate outcomes and that the size of the effect varies with the type of communication.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Monetary policy implementation, Transmission of monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C9, D, D8, D84, E, E3, E5, E52

• Reassessing the Growth of HELOCs in Canada Using New Regulatory Data

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-14 Leila Al-Mqbali, Olga Bilyk, Stefan Caputo, James Younker

  Using new regulatory data on residential secured lending from Canadian banks, we assess the growth rate of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial Institutions, Financial stability, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D1, G, G2, G21, G28

• Firm-level Investment Under Imperfect Capital Markets in Ukraine

  Staff Working Paper 2019-14 Oleksandr Shcherbakov

  This paper develops and estimates a model of firm-level fixed capital investment when firms face borrowing constraints.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models, Firm dynamics JEL Code(s): C, C6, C61, C63, D, D2, D24, G, G3, G31

• Non-Resident Taxes and the Role of House Price Expectations

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-8 Mikael Khan, Matthieu Verstraete

  In recent years, the governments of Ontario and British Columbia have imposed taxes on purchases by non-Canadian residents of residential properties in certain jurisdictions.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Financial stability, Housing JEL Code(s): D, D8, D84, R, R2, R21

• Limiting Sender’s Information in Bayesian Persuasion

  Staff Working Paper 2019-10 Shota Ichihashi

  This paper studies how the outcome of Bayesian persuasion depends on a sender’s information. I study a game in which, prior to the sender’s information disclosure, the designer can restrict the most informative signal that the sender can generate.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, D83

• Inequality in Parental Transfers, Borrowing Constraints and Optimal Higher Education Subsidies

  Staff Working Paper 2019-7 Youngmin Park

  This paper studies optimal education subsidies when parental transfers are unequally distributed across students and cannot be publicly observed. After documenting substantial inequality in parental transfers among US college students with similar family resources, I examine its implications for how the education subsidy should vary with schooling level and family resources to minimize inefficiencies generated by borrowing constraints.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Fiscal Policy, Potential output, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, D6, D61, D64, D8, D82, I, I2, I22, J, J2, J24

• The Productivity Slowdown in Canada: An ICT Phenomenon?

  Staff Working Paper 2019-2 Jeffrey Mollins, Pierre St-Amant

  We ask whether a weaker contribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) to productivity growth could account for the productivity slowdown observed in Canada since the early 2000s. To answer this question, we consider several methods capturing channels through which ICT could affect aggregate productivity growth.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, O, O4, O41, O47

• 2017 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report

  Staff Discussion Paper 2018-17 Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh, Angelika Welte

  Cash use is declining while contactless and mobile payments are on the rise.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Financial services JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E4, E41

• The Cost of the Government Bond Buyback and Switch Programs in Canada

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-41 Bo Young Chang, Jun Yang, Parker Liu

  This note examines the costs of the Government of Canada bond buyback and switch programs between 1998 and 2016. Our analysis indicates that the auction design of the buyback program was effective in retiring government debt with minimal costs resulting from bid shading in auctions and price impact.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Debt Management JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44