Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

• Non-homothetic Preferences and the Demand Channel of Inflation

  Staff Working Paper 2025-30 Stephen Murchison

  An alternative to the standard CES aggregator, based on non-homothetic household preferences, is proposed. Specifically, the elasticity of substitution between goods declines during periods of strong per-capita consumption and vice versa, giving firms an incentive to adjust their desired markup in response to the state of demand. Empirical evidence favouring a direct role for per-capita consumption demand in inflation determination for Canada is presented.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E2, E27, E5, E52, Q, Q4, Q43, Q5, Q58

• Short-Run and Long-Run News: Evidence from Giant Commodity Discoveries

  Staff Working Paper 2025-24 Jean-Paul L’Huillier, Kirill Shakhnov, Laure Simon

  Our understanding of news shocks is, to a large extent, based on studies that focus empirically on short-run news. This paper brings new insights by analyzing the effects of giant commodity discoveries, which typically materialize over the longer run.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E2, E23, F, F3, F4, Q, Q3, Q33

• Natural disasters and inflation in Canada

  Staff Analytical Note 2025-8 Thibaut Duprey, Victoria Fernandes

  How do storms, floods and wildfires affect consumer prices? In the short term, natural disasters can significantly increase volatility in Canada-wide inflation. Over the long term, natural disasters influence inflation in shelter prices, especially when provincial output is already weak relative to trend.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Climate change, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, Q, Q5, Q54

• Let’s Get Physical: Impacts of Climate Change Physical Risks on Provincial Employment

  Staff Working Paper 2024-32 Thibaut Duprey, Soojin Jo, Geneviève Vallée

  We analyze 40 years’ worth of natural disasters using a local projection framework to assess their impact on provincial labour markets in Canada. We find that disasters decrease hours worked within a week and lower wage growth in the medium run. Our study highlights that disasters affect vulnerable workers through the income channel.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Climate change, Labour markets, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C3, C33, E, E2, E24, J, J3, Q, Q5, Q54

• Total factor productivity growth projection for Canada: A sectoral approach

  Staff Analytical Note 2024-12 Dany Brouillette, Tessa Devakos, Raven Wheesk

  We propose a tool that decomposes TFP growth into sectoral contributions. The analysis incorporates three structural factors—digitalization, aging and climate change policies—and measures their contributions. Overall, we expect that aggregate TFP growth will slow down in the 2020s below both its historical average and the average from the 2010s.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Climate change, Digitalization, Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, J, J1, J11, O, O3, O33, Q, Q5, Q54

• Regulation, Emissions and Productivity: Evidence from China’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan

  Staff Working Paper 2024-7 Brantly Callaway, Tong Li, Joel Rodrigue, Yuya Sasaki, Yong Tan

  We study the degree to which China’s 11th Five-Year Plan softens trade-offs between emissions and output. Our model suggests efficient regulation could have further increased aggregate productivity by 3.5% and output by 4.7% without any increase in aggregate emissions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Climate change, Productivity JEL Code(s): C, C2, C21, D, D2, D24, Q, Q5, Q53
• January 15, 2024

  Mapping out the implications of climate transition risk for the financial system

  Gabriel Bruneau, Javier Ojea Ferreiro, Andrew Plummer, Marie-Christine Tremblay, Aidan Witts

  We develop a new analytical framework to understand the system-wide implications of climate transition risk. When applying this framework to Canadian data, we find that interconnections within the financial sector could amplify the direct effects of climate transition risk on financial entities.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Hub articles Research Topic(s): Climate change, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, G, G0, G01, G1, G10, G2, G20, Q, Q5, Q54
• January 15, 2024

  Flood risk and residential lending

  Craig Johnston, Geneviève Vallée, Hossein Hosseini Jebeli, Miguel Molico, Marie-Christine Tremblay, Aidan Witts

  We present key findings of a recent study that evaluates the credit risk that flooding poses to the residential lending activities of Canadian banks and credit unions. Results show that such risk currently appears modest but could become larger with climate change.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Hub articles Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Climate change, Credit risk management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C8, C81, G, G2, G21, Q, Q5, Q54

• Extreme Weather and Low-Income Household Finance: Evidence from Payday Loans

  Staff Working Paper 2024-1 Shihan Xie, Victoria Wenxin Xie, Xu Zhang

  This paper explores the impact of extreme weather exposures on the financial outcomes of low-income households. Our findings highlight the heightened financial vulnerability of low-income households to environmental shocks and underscore the need for targeted policies.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Climate change, Credit and credit aggregates JEL Code(s): G, G5, Q, Q5, Q54

• Climate-Related Flood Risk to Residential Lending Portfolios in Canada

  Staff Discussion Paper 2023-33 Craig Johnston, Geneviève Vallée, Hossein Hosseini Jebeli, Brett Lindsay, Miguel Molico, Marie-Christine Tremblay, Aidan Witts

  We assess the potential financial risks of current and projected flooding caused by extreme weather events in Canada. We focus on the residential real estate secured lending (RESL) portfolios of Canadian financial institutions (FIs) because RESL portfolios are an important component of FIs’ balance sheets and because the assets used to secure such loans are immobile and susceptible to climate-related extreme weather events.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Climate change, Credit risk management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C8, C81, G, G2, G21, Q, Q5, Q54