Real economy and forecasting

• Complementarities Between Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy—Literature Review

  Staff discussion paper 2021-4 Wei Dong, Geoffrey R. Dunbar, Christian Friedrich, Dmitry Matveev, Romanos Priftis, Lin Shao

  This paper surveys and summarizes the literature on how fiscal policy and monetary policy can complement each other in stabilizing economic activity.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E62, E63 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Real economy and forecasting

• The Bank of Canada COVID‑19 stringency index: measuring policy response across provinces

  Staff analytical note 2021-1 Calista Cheung, Jerome Lyons, Bethany Madsen, Sarah Miller, Saarah Sheikh

  We construct an index that systematically measures and tracks the stringency of government policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across Canadian provinces. Researchers can use this stringency index to analyze how the pandemic is affecting the economy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E2, E20, H, H7, I, I1, I18, R, R1 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting

• (Optimal) Monetary Policy with and without Debt

  Staff working paper 2021-5 Boris Chafwehé, Rigas Oikonomou, Romanos Priftis, Lukas Vogel

  How should policy be designed at high debt levels, when fiscal authorities have little room to adjust taxes? Assigning the monetary authority a role in achieving debt sustainability makes it less effective in stabilizing inflation and output.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58, E6, E62 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Real economy and forecasting

• Qualitative Field Research in Monetary Policy Making

  Staff discussion paper 2021-1 Chris D'Souza, Jane Voll

  Central banks conduct research involving in-depth interviews with external parties—but little is known about how this information affects monetary policy. We address this gap by analyzing open-ended interviews with senior central bank economic and policy staff who work closely with policy decision-makers.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C8, C83, E, E3, E37, E5, E52 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting

• Using Payments Data to Nowcast Macroeconomic Variables During the Onset of COVID-19

  Staff working paper 2021-2 James Chapman, Ajit Desai

  We use retail payment data in conjunction with machine learning techniques to predict the effects of COVID-19 on the Canadian economy in near-real time. Our model yields a significant increase in macroeconomic prediction accuracy over a linear benchmark model.

  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

• Allocative Efficiency and the Productivity Slowdown

  Staff working paper 2021-1 Lin Shao, Rongsheng Tang

  In our analysis of the US productivity slowdown in the 1970s and 2000s, we find that a significant portion of this deceleration can be attributed to a lack of improvement in allocative efficiency across sectors. Our analysis further identifies increased sector-level volatility as a major contributor to this lack of improvement in allocative efficiency.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E23, O, O4, O47 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Digitalization and productivity

• A Reference Guide for the Business Outlook Survey

  Staff discussion paper 2020-15 David Amirault, Naveen Rai, Laurent Martin

  The Business Outlook Survey (BOS) has become an important part of monetary policy deliberations at the Bank of Canada and is also well known in Canadian policy and financial circles. This paper compiles more than 20 years of experience conducting the BOS and serves as a comprehensive reference manual.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C8, C83, D, D2, D22, E, E3, E32 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting

• Labor Market Policies During an Epidemic

  Staff working paper 2020-54 Serdar Birinci, Fatih Karahan, Yusuf Mercan, Kurt See

  We study the labour market and welfare effects of expanding unemployment insurance benefits and introducing payroll subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that both policies are complementary and are beneficial to different types of workers. Payroll subsidies preserve the employment of workers in highly productive jobs, while unemployment insurance replaces lost income for workers who experience inevitable job loss.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E6, E62, J, J6, J64 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply

• Can the Business Outlook Survey Help Improve Estimates of the Canadian Output Gap?

  Staff discussion paper 2020-14 Calista Cheung, Luke Frymire, Lise Pichette

  We investigate whether questions in the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey can provide useful signals for the output gap.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E3 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting

• Towards a HANK Model for Canada: Estimating a Canadian Income Process

  Staff discussion paper 2020-13 Iskander Karibzhanov

  How might one simulate a million realistic income paths and compute their statistical moments in under a second? Using CUDA-based methods to estimate the Canadian earnings process, I find that the distribution of labour income growth is sharply peaked with heavy tails—similar to that in the United States.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E2, E24, J, J3, J31 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting