November 11, 2008
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November 11, 2008
Merchants' Costs of Accepting Means of Payment: Is Cash the Least Costly?
In a competitive sales environment, merchants are compelled to offer consumers the option of paying for goods and services using a variety of payment methods, including cash, debit card, or credit card. Each method entails different costs and benefits to merchants. To better understand the costs of accepting retail payments, the Bank of Canada surveyed over 500 Canadian merchants and found that most consider cash the least costly. This article investigated this perception by calculating the variable costs per transaction of accepting different means of payment. The findings are that costs for each payment method vary by merchant and transaction value, with debit cards the least costly payment for a broad cross-section of merchants.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Bank notes
November 11, 2008
The Market Impact of Forward-Looking Policy Statements: Transparency vs. Predictability
Central banks continuously strive to improve how they communicate to financial markets and the public in order to increase transparency. For this reason, many central banks have begun to include guidance on the policy rate in the form of forward-looking statements in their communications. This article examines the debate over the usefulness of providing such statements from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. The evidence presented here suggests that the use of forward-looking statements in Bank of Canada communications has made the Bank more predictable, but not necessarily more transparent.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Central bank research,
Interest rates,
Monetary policy transmission
November 11, 2008
Conference Summary: International Experience with the Conduct of Monetary Policy under Inflation Targeting
Central bankers from inflation-targeting and non-inflation-targeting countries around the world and several distinguished scholars assembled at the Bank of Canada in July 2008 to review the international experience in some detail. This article highlights topics covered in the special lectures and sessions, including how inflation targeting can manage external shocks, various ways in which monetary policy decisions are taken, and the issues of transparency and communications. It also reports on the discussion in the closing panel, which considered options for the future of inflation targeting.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Central bank research,
Inflation targets,
Monetary policy framework
October 25, 2008
Survey respondents reported widespread tightening in both the pricing and non-pricing dimensions of business-lending conditions. Respondents attributed the tightening of lending conditions mainly to the ongoing turmoil in credit markets and to concerns about the general economic outlook.
Senior Loan Officer Survey - Third-Quarter 2008
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Senior Loan Officer Survey
October 23, 2008
Three major interrelated global developments are having a profound impact on the Canadian economy and making the outlook more uncertain than it was at the time of the July Monetary Policy Report Update.
Monetary Policy Report – October 2008
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Monetary Policy Report
October 10, 2008
Business Outlook Survey - Autumn 2008
Responses to the autumn survey indicate that the combination of weak U.S. demand, volatile financial markets, and slowing momentum in the West are weighing more heavily on business activity in Canada.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Business Outlook Survey
September 15, 2008
Productivity in Canada: Does Firm Size Matter?
The research findings highlighted in this article suggest that firm-size differences play a significant role in explaining the productivity gap between Canada and the United States. The authors review factors that lead to a positive relationship between productivity and size and then look at Canadian evidence of this relationship at the firm level. They quantify the extent to which the change in Canadian productivity as well as the Canada-U.S. productivity differences can be accounted for by the change in the importance of large firms and identify several factors that play a role in determining average firm size and aggregate productivity.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Productivity
September 15, 2008
Offshoring and Its Effects on the Labour Market and Productivity: A Survey of Recent Literature
Offshoring has become an increasingly prominent aspect of the globalization process. Evidence over the past two decades suggests that offshoring has not exerted a noticeable impact on overall employment and earnings growth in advanced economies, but it has likely contributed to shifting the demand for labour towards higher-skilled jobs. There appear to be some positive effects of offshoring on productivity, but such effects differ by country.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
International topics,
Labour markets,
Productivity
September 15, 2008
Adjusting to the Commodity-Price Boom: The Experiences of Four Industrialized Countries
Between 2002 and 2008, global commodity prices rose to unprecedented levels. This article examines the process of adjustment to the commodity boom in four industrialized, commodity-exporting countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway). The article focuses on both the direct adjustment within the commodity-producing sectors (via increased employment and capital spending) and the indirect adjustment in the macro economy. The analysis finds that the indirect adjustment process, which was triggered by the increase in incomes that the commodity-price boom generated, has been the most important part of the adjustment in all four economies. Through this channel, aggregate demand rose, exchange rates appreciated, and adjustment was facilitated in other sectors, such as manufacturing and construction.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
International topics,
Recent economic and financial developments