Edith Gagnon - Latest

• December 23, 2003

  The Comparative Growth of Goods and Services Prices

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2003-2004 Edith Gagnon, Patrick Sabourin, Sébastien Lavoie

  For several decades, the prices of services have been rising more rapidly than the prices of goods in Canada and the other major industrialized countries. In 2002, this gap between the growth rates of these two components of the consumer price index (CPI) widened considerably, leading researchers to ask if this was the beginning of a trend. Analysis reveals, however, that the gap is based on short-term dynamics and that it appears to be independent of the trend in the development of the overall price level. Evidence also shows that the gap is eventually reabsorbed. The authors examine a number of potential causes for the prices of services to rise faster than those of goods. These include the more rapid pace of productivity growth in the goods sector, the greater openness of goods to foreign trade, and stronger growth in the demand for services.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, International topics, Productivity

• New Phillips Curve with Alternative Marginal Cost Measures for Canada, the United States, and the Euro Area

  Staff Working Paper 2001-25 Edith Gagnon, Hashmat Khan

  Recent research on the new Phillips curve (NPC) (e.g., Galí, Gertler, and López-Salido 2001a) gives marginal cost an important role in capturing pressures on inflation. In this paper we assess the case for using alternative measures of marginal cost to improve the empirical fit of the NPC.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31