D - Microeconomics
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Micro Foundations of Price-Setting Behaviour: Evidence from Canadian Firms
How do firms adjust prices in the marketplace? Do they tend to adjust prices infrequently in response to changes in market conditions? If so, why? These remain key questions in macroeconomics, particularly for central banks that work to keep inflation low and stable. -
Firms Dynamics, Bankruptcy Laws and Total Factor Productivity
This paper analyzes endogenous fluctuations in total factor productivity (TFP) in a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents, and illustrates the interaction of credit market frictions, asset prices, the entry and exit of firms, and fluctuations in TFP in response to firm-level productivity and aggregate credit-market shocks. I also analyze the effect of bankruptcy and foreclosure laws on fluctuations in TFP through their effect on credit market frictions. -
Monetary Policy Committees in Action: Is There Room for Improvement?
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. -
Efficient Hedging and Pricing of Equity-Linked Life Insurance Contracts on Several Risky Assets
The authors use the efficient hedging methodology for optimal pricing and hedging of equity-linked life insurance contracts whose payoff depends on the performance of several risky assets. -
Education and Self-Employment: Changes in Earnings and Wealth Inequality
The author quantitatively studies the interaction between education and occupation choices and its implication for the relationship between the changes in earnings inequality and the changes in wealth inequality in the United States over the 1983–2001 period. -
Survey of Price-Setting Behaviour of Canadian Companies
In many mainstream macroeconomic models, sticky prices play an important role in explaining the effects of monetary policy on the economy. -
Are Canadian Banks Efficient? A Canada–U.S. Comparison
The authors compare the efficiency of Canada's largest banks with U.S. commercial banks over the past 20 years. Efficiency is measured in three ways. -
Guarding Against Large Policy Errors under Model Uncertainty
How can policy-makers avoid large policy errors when they are uncertain about the true model of the economy? -
A Structural Error-Correction Model of Best Prices and Depths in the Foreign Exchange Limit Order Market
Traders using the electronic limit order book in the foreign exchange market can watch the posted price and depth of the best quotes change over the day.