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2338
result(s)
Core Inflation
Technical Report No. 89
Seamus Hogan,
Marianne Johnson,
Thérèse Laflèche
The Bank of Canada uses core CPI inflation, the year-over-year rate of change of the consumer price index excluding food, energy, and the effects of changes in indirect taxes, as the operational guide for monetary policy.
Content Type(s):
Staff research,
Technical reports
Topic(s):
Inflation and prices
JEL Code(s):
E,
E3,
E31
December 17, 2000
Dynamic General-Equilibrium Models and Why the Bank of Canada is Interested in Them
Dynamic general-equilibrium models (DGEMs) are being increasingly used in macroeconomic research. In this article, the author describes the main features of these models and outlines their contribution to economic research performed at the Bank of Canada. He notes that the basic principle of DGEMs is that the modelling of economic activity, even on a scale as large as the economy of a country, should start with a series of microeconomic problems (at the scale of individuals), which, once resolved, are aggregated to represent the macroeconomic reality described by the model.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Economic models
December 16, 2000
The Bank of Canada's Management of Foreign Currency Reserves
This article describes the Bank's management of the liquid foreign currency portion of the government's official reserves. It broadly outlines the operations of the Exchange Fund Account (EFA), the main account in which Canada's reserves are held. It then briefly reviews the evolution of the objectives and management of the EFA over the past 25 years, particularly in light of the changing level of reserves and developments in financial markets. The EFA is funded by Canada's foreign currency borrowings in capital markets. The article focuses on the comprehensive portfolio framework used to manage the Account, which matches assets and liabilities. Under this framework, funds are invested in assets that match, as closely as possible, the characteristics of foreign currency liabilities issued, helping to immunize the portfolio against currency and interest rate risks.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Financial markets,
Interest rates
December 15, 2000
The Federal Government's Use of Interest Rate Swaps and Currency Swaps
Interest rate swaps and currency swaps are contracts in which counterparties agree to exchange cash flows according to a pre-arranged formula over a period of time. Since 1985, the federal government has been using such swaps to manage its liabilities in a cost-effective and flexible manner. The authors outline the characteristics of swap agreements and the ways in which the government uses them. They show that the swap program has been cost-effective, estimating that past and projected savings exceed $500 million. The authors also discuss the methods that the government uses to monitor the counterparty credit risk associated with these transactions.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Interest rates
The Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Exchange Rate Forecasting: The Role of Market Microstructure Variables
Staff Working Paper 2000-23
Nikola Gradojevic,
Jing Yang
Artificial neural networks (ANN) are employed for high-frequency Canada/U.S. dollar exchange rate forecasting. ANN outperform random walk and linear models in a number of recursive out-of- sample forecasts.
Content Type(s):
Staff research,
Staff working papers
Topic(s):
Exchange rates
JEL Code(s):
C,
C4,
C45,
F,
F3,
F31
November 16, 2000
Credit Derivatives
Credit derivatives are a useful tool for lenders who want to reduce their exposure to a particular borrower but are unwilling to sell their claims on that borrower. Without actually transferring ownership of the underlying assets, these contracts transfer risk from one counterparty to another. Commercial banks are the major participants in this growing market, using these transactions to diversify their portfolios of loans and other risky assets. The authors examine the size and workings of this relatively new market and discuss the potential of these transactions for distorting existing incentives for risk management and risk monitoring.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Credit and credit aggregates,
Financial markets,
Market structure and pricing
November 15, 2000
Recent Performance of the Canadian Economy: A Regional View
This article first outlines the activities of the Bank's regional offices and looks at how regional economic analysis fits into the Bank's decision-making process. The changing role of the regional offices in communications and in information gathering is examined, focusing on the quarterly surveys of industries and associations. The second section reviews, from a regional perspective, economic developments since the Asian crisis and future prospects.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Regional economic developments
November 14, 2000
Conference Summary: Money, Monetary Policy, and Transmission Mechanisms
This article summarizes the proceedings of a conference hosted by the Bank of Canada in November 1999. Three major themes emerged at the conference. The first concerned uncertainty about the transmission mechanism by which monetary policy affects output and inflation. The second concerned the potential usefulness of monetary aggregates in guiding the economy along a stable non-inflationary growth path. The third was the recent developments in dynamic monetary general-equilibrium models. The work presented suggests that a wide range of models is useful for understanding the various paths by which monetary policy actions might influence the economy.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Economic models,
Monetary aggregates,
Monetary policy and uncertainty
November 13, 2000
Seminar Summary: Price Stability and the Long-Run Target for Monetary Policy
On 8 and 9 June 2000, the Bank held a seminar to examine some key issues affecting the upcoming decision on Canada's inflation-control target for the period after 2001. The main issues covered at the seminar were the extent of downward nominal-wage rigidity and its implications for employment as well as the relative merits of price-level targeting versus inflation targeting. Another critical question that was discussed was how to balance the evidence on all the relevant issues in order to develop an overall view on the appropriate long-run target. The author gives a brief overview of the seminar followed by detailed summaries of individual papers.
Content Type(s):
Publications,
Bank of Canada Review articles
Topic(s):
Inflation targets