Real economy and forecasting

• Contribution of Human Capital Accumulation to Canadian Economic Growth

  Staff discussion paper 2022-7 Audra Bowlus, Youngmin Park, Chris Robinson

  This paper quantifies the contribution of human capital accumulation to the growth of real gross domestic product (GDP) in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, E, E2, E24, J, J2, J24, J3, J31, O, O4, O47 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply, Digitalization and productivity

• Job Ladder and Business Cycles

  Staff working paper 2022-14 Felipe Alves

  During downturns, workers get stuck in low-productivity jobs and wages remain stagnant. I build an heterogenous agent incomplete market model with a full job ladder that accounts for these facts. An adverse financial shock calibrated to the US Great Recession replicates the period’s slow recovery and missing disinflation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, D5, D52, E, E2, E21, E24, E3, E31, E32 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply

• COVID-19, Containment and Consumption

  Staff discussion paper 2022-5 Tatjana Dahlhaus, Daniel Hyun, Antoine Poulin-Moore, Jaime Trujillo, Saarah Sheikh, Benjamin Straus

  We assess the impact of COVID-19 on consumption indicators by estimating the effects of government-mandated containment measures and of the willingness of individuals to voluntarily physically distance to prevent contagion.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, C23, D, D1, D12, E, E6, E65, I, I1, I18 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting

• Macroeconomic Predictions Using Payments Data and Machine Learning

  Staff working paper 2022-10 James Chapman, Ajit Desai

  We demonstrate the usefulness of payment systems data and machine learning models for macroeconomic predictions and provide a set of econometric tools to overcome associated challenges.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, C55, E, E3, E37, E4, E42, E5, E52 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Money and payments, Retail payments

• The Impact of Globalization and Digitalization on the Phillips Curve

  Staff working paper 2022-7 Christian Friedrich, Peter Selcuk

  Globalization is in retreat, yet digitalization is on the rise. How will these trends impact inflation?

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, F, F6 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Digitalization and productivity, International trade, finance and competitiveness

• Business Closures and (Re)Openings in Real Time Using Google Places

  Staff working paper 2022-1 Thibaut Duprey, Daniel E. Rigobon, Philip Schnattinger, Artur Kotlicki, Soheil Baharian, T. R. Hurd

  The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for policy-makers to closely monitor disruptions to the retail and food business sectors. We present a new method to measure business opening and closing rates using real-time data from Google Places, the dataset behind the Google Maps service.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C55, C8, C81, D, D2, D22, E, E3, E32 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting

• The COVID-19 Consumption Game-Changer: Evidence from a Large-Scale Multi-Country Survey

  Staff working paper 2021-57 Alexander Hodbod, Cars Hommes, Stefanie J. Huber, Isabelle Salle

  A multi-country consumer survey investigates why and how much households decreased their consumption in five key sectors after pandemic-related restrictions were lifted in Europe in July 2020. Beyond infection risk and precautionary saving motives, households also reported not missing some consumption items, which may indicate preference shifts and structural changes in the post-COVID-19 economy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D8, D81, D84, E, E2, E21, E6, E60, E7, E71 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting

• What Can Stockouts Tell Us About Inflation? Evidence from Online Micro Data

  Staff working paper 2021-52 Alberto Cavallo, Oleksiy Kryvtsov

  Did supply disruptions and cost pressures play a role in rising inflation in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic? Using data collected from websites of large retailers in multiple sectors and countries, we show that shortages may indicate transitory inflationary pressures.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E3, E31, E37 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting

• Fiscal and Monetary Stabilization Policy at the Zero Lower Bound: Consequences of Limited Foresight

  Staff working paper 2021-51 Michael Woodford, Yinxi Xie

  How do outcomes of monetary and fiscal stabilization policies at the zero lower bound change when decision makers have finite planning horizons in the economy? We explore the effects of limited foresight on policy tools and the interaction between monetary and fiscal policy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E6, E63, E7 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Real economy and forecasting

• Job Applications and Labour Market Flows

  Staff working paper 2021-49 Serdar Birinci, Kurt See, Shu Lin Wee

  Although the number of job applications has risen, job-finding rates remain relatively unchanged while job-separation rates have significantly declined. Rather than raising the probability of finding a job, we find that a rise in applications raises the probability of finding a good match, as evidenced by the decline in separation rates.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J6, J63, J64 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply