D22 - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

• Welfare Analysis of Equilibria With and Without Early Termination Fees in the US Wireless Industry

  Staff Working Paper 2020-9 Joseph Cullen, Nicolas Schutz, Oleksandr Shcherbakov

  The elimination of long-term contracts and early termination fees (ETFs) in the US wireless industry at the end of 2015 increased monthly service fees by 2 to 5 percent. Nevertheless, consumers are clearly better off without ETFs. While firms’ revenues from ETFs vanish, their profits from monthly fees increase. As a result, the overall effect on producer profits is less clear.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Firm dynamics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L15, L9, L96

• 2018 Merchant Acceptance Survey

  Staff Analytical Note 2019-31 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Mitchell Nicholson

  In 2015, the Bank of Canada surveyed merchants and found that cash was nearly universally accepted (Fung, Huynh and Kosse 2017). Since 2015, retail payments in Canada have become increasingly digitalized, as many Canadians have adopted digital payment innovations like contactless cards and Interac e-Transfer.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital Currencies and Fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C8, D, D2, D22, E, E4, L, L2

• Amazon Effects in Canadian Online Retail Firm-Product-Level Data

  Staff Working Paper 2019-42 Alex Chernoff

  I use firm-product-level data for Canadian online retailers to study how product scope (the average number of product categories per firm) evolved from 1999 to 2012. During this period, product scope dropped monotonically from 59 to 5 product categories.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Service Sector JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L11, L8, L81

• The Scale and Scope of Online Retail

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-19 Alex Chernoff

  This paper studies the growth of online retail over the period 1999–2012, using confidential firm-product-level data for Canada. The revenue of online retailers is decomposed into the contributions of product scope (the number of product categories) and product scale (average revenue per product category).

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Digital Currencies and Fintech, Firm dynamics, International topics JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L11, L8, L81

• Identifying the Degree of Collusion Under Proportional Reduction

  Staff Working Paper 2017-51 Oleksandr Shcherbakov, Naoki Wakamori

  Proportional reduction is a common cartel practice in which cartel members reduce their output proportionately. We develop a method to quantify this reduction relative to a benchmark market equilibrium scenario and relate the reduction to the traditional conduct parameter.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C3, C36, D, D2, D22, L, L4, L41

• Digitalization and Inflation: A Review of the Literature

  Staff Analytical Note 2017-20 Karyne B. Charbonneau, Alexa Evans, Subrata Sarker, Lena Suchanek

  In the past few years, many have postulated that the possible disinflationary effects of digitalization could explain the subdued inflation in advanced economies. In this note, we review the evidence found in the literature. We look at three main channels.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E3, E31, L, L8, L81, O, O3, O33

• Digital Transformation in the Service Sector: Insights from Consultations with Firms in Wholesale, Retail and Logistics

  Staff Analytical Note 2017-19 Wei Dong, James Fudurich, Lena Suchanek

  Firms increasingly rely on digital technologies such as e-commerce, cloud computing, big data, digital tracking and digital platforms that are reshaping business operations, business models and market structures. In this context, the Bank of Canada consulted with firms in wholesale, retail and logistics, as well as with related industry associations to yield insights on the adoption of digital technologies.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Inflation and prices, Service Sector JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E3, E31, L, L8, L81, L9, L92, O, O3, O33

• What’s Up with Unit Non-Response in the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey? The Effect of Staff Tenure

  Staff Discussion Paper 2017-11 Sarah Miller, David Amirault, Laurent Martin

  Since 1997, the Bank of Canada’s regional offices have been conducting the Business Outlook Survey (BOS), a quarterly survey of business conditions. Survey responses are gathered through face-to-face, confidential consultations with a sample of private sector firms representative of the various sectors, firm sizes and regions across Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Firm dynamics, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C2, C21, C8, C81, D, D2, D22

• Understanding Monetary Policy and its Effects: Evidence from Canadian Firms Using the Business Outlook Survey

  Staff Working Paper 2017-24 Matthieu Verstraete, Lena Suchanek

  This paper shows (i) that business sentiment, as captured by survey data, matters for monetary policy decisions in Canada, and (ii) how business perspectives are affected by monetary policy shocks. Measures of business sentiment (soft data) are shown to have systematic explanatory power for monetary policy decisions over and above typical Taylor rule variables.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Working Papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Interest rates, Transmission of monetary policy JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E4, E44, E5, E52

• The Digital Economy—Insight from a Special Survey with IT Service Exporters

  Staff Discussion Paper 2016-21 Wei Dong, James Fudurich, Lena Suchanek

  Information technology (IT) is an increasingly integral part of everyday business and personal life reflecting the ongoing and accelerating digital transformation of the economy. In this paper, we present information gathered from a survey with export-oriented firms in the Canadian IT service industry and consultations with industry associations aimed at shedding light on this small but highly dynamic sector.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Service Sector JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L8, L86, O, O3, O33