Does Outward Foreign Investment Matter for Canadian Productivity? Evidence from Greenfield Investments Staff working paper 2018-31 Naveen Rai, Lena Suchanek, Maria Bernier This paper seeks to understand how outward foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the productivity of Canadian firms. We estimate the impact of outward greenfield investment on measures of firm-level productivity using FDI data from roughly 2,000 Canadian firms and more than 4,000 outward FDI projects over the 2003–14 period. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, F, F2, F21, F23 Research Theme(s): Structural challenges, Digitalization and productivity, International trade, finance and competitiveness
The BoC-BoE Sovereign Default Database Revisited: What’s New in 2018? Staff working paper 2018-30 David Beers, Jamshid Mavalwalla Until recently, there have been few efforts to systematically measure and aggregate the nominal value of the different types of sovereign government debt in default. To help fill this gap, the Bank of Canada’s Credit Rating Assessment Group (CRAG) has developed a comprehensive database of sovereign defaults posted on the Bank of Canada’s website that now is updated in partnership with the Bank of England. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F3, F34, G, G1, G10, G14, G15 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk
A Look Inside the Box: Combining Aggregate and Marginal Distributions to Identify Joint Distributions Staff working paper 2018-29 Marie-Hélène Felt This paper proposes a method for estimating the joint distribution of two or more variables when only their marginal distributions and the distribution of their aggregates are observed. Nonparametric identification is achieved by modelling dependence using a latent common-factor structure. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, D, D1, D14, E, E4, E41 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Money and payments, Cash and bank notes
Bitcoin Awareness and Usage in Canada: An Update Staff analytical note 2018-23 Christopher Henry, Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls The results of our 2017 Bitcoin Omnibus Survey (December 12 to 15, 2017) when compared with those from 2016 show that Bitcoin “awareness” increased from 64 to 85 per cent, while ownership increased from 2.9 to 5.0 per cent. Most Bitcoin purchasers are using the cryptocurrency as an investment and not as a means of payment for goods or services. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, E, E4 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech
The Neutral Rate in Canada: 2018 Estimates Staff analytical note 2018-22 Xin Scott Chen, José Dorich The neutral nominal policy rate serves as a benchmark for assessing the degree of monetary stimulus and provides a medium- to long-run anchor for the policy rate. Since quantitative measures of the neutral rate are subject to considerable uncertainty, Bank staff rely on four different approaches to estimate the Canadian neutral rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E43, E5, E50, E52, E58, F, F4, F41 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission
Redemption Runs in Canadian Corporate Bond Funds? Staff analytical note 2018-21 Rohan Arora Mutual funds employ a host of tools to manage redemption run risk. However, our results suggest that Canadian corporate bond funds may be vulnerable to redemption runs, especially when they are less liquid and when market volatility is high. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G2, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk
June 30, 2018 Research Update - June 2018 This monthly newsletter features the latest research publications by Bank of Canada economists including external publications and working papers published on the Bank of Canada’s website. Content Type(s): Staff research, Research newsletters
Readability and the Bank of Canada Staff analytical note 2018-20 Alexandre Deslongchamps In this note, I assess the readability of Bank of Canada publications using a formula commonly used for this type of evaluation. I find that Bank publications are more difficult to read than the media articles and other content our target audiences likely consume. This suggests that more simple writing can help the Bank better meet its communication objectives. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission
Bootstrapping Mean Squared Errors of Robust Small-Area Estimators: Application to the Method-of-Payments Data Staff working paper 2018-28 Valéry Dongmo Jiongo, Pierre Nguimkeu This paper proposes a new bootstrap procedure for mean squared errors of robust small-area estimators. We formally prove the asymptotic validity of the proposed bootstrap method and examine its finite sample performance through Monte Carlo simulations. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C13, C15, C8, C83, E, E4, E41 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Money and payments, Cash and bank notes
Swedish Riksbank Notes and Enskilda Bank Notes: Lessons for Digital Currencies Staff working paper 2018-27 Ben Fung, Scott Hendry, Warren E. Weber This paper examines the experience of Sweden with government notes and private bank notes to determine how well the Swedish experience corresponds to that of Canada and the United States. Sweden is important to study because it has had government notes in circulation for more than 350 years, and it had government notes before private bank notes. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5, E58 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech