Fiscal Spillovers: The Case of US Corporate and Personal Income Taxes Staff Working Paper 2021-41 Madeline Hanson, Daniela Hauser, Romanos Priftis How do changes to personal and corporate income tax rates in the United States affect its trading partners? Spillover effects from cuts in the two taxes differ. They are generally small and negative for corporate taxes, but sizable and positive for personal income taxes. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Exchange rate regimes, Fiscal policy, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E6, E62, F, F4, F44, H, H2, H20
Measuring the Effectiveness of Salespeople: Evidence from a Cold-Drink Market Staff Working Paper 2021-40 Haofeng Jin, Zhentong Lu Salespeople are widely employed in many industries. We leverage a unique data set on retail sales from a leading Chinese cold-drink manufacturer and information on the firm’s salespeople assignment rule to measure the causal effect of salespeople on product revenue. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Labour markets, Service sector JEL Code(s): L, L8, L81, M, M3, M5
Centralizing Over-the-Counter Markets? Staff Working Paper 2021-39 Jason Allen, Milena Wittwer Would a shift in trading in fixed-income markets—from over the counter (bilateral trading) to a centralized electronic platform—improve welfare? We use trade-level data on the secondary market for Government of Canada debt to answer this question. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D40, D47, G, G1, G10, G2, G20, L, L1, L10
Monetary Policy and the Persistent Aggregate Effects of Wealth Redistribution Staff Working Paper 2021-38 Martin Kuncl, Alexander Ueberfeldt Monetary policy in the presence of nominal debt and labour supply heterogeneity creates a policy trade-off: a short-term economic stimulus leads to persistently reduced output over the medium term. Price-level targeting weakens this trade-off and is better able to stabilize inflation and output than inflation targeting. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E5, E50
Estimating Large-Dimensional Connectedness Tables: The Great Moderation Through the Lens of Sectoral Spillovers Staff Working Paper 2021-37 Felix Brunner, Ruben Hipp Understanding the size of sectoral links is crucial to predicting the impact of a crisis on the whole economy. We show that statistical learning techniques substantially outperform traditional estimation techniques when measuring large networks of these links. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C5, C52, E, E2, E23, E27
Tariffs and the Exchange Rate: Evidence from Twitter Staff Working Paper 2021-36 Dmitry Matveev, Francisco Ruge-Murcia Do tariffs affect exchange rates? We look at President Trump’s tweets during talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement and find that anticipation of higher tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico led to an appreciation of the US dollar relative to Canadian and Mexican currency. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Exchange rates, Trade integration JEL Code(s): F, F1, F13, F3, F31
Stressed but not Helpless: Strategic Behaviour of Banks Under Adverse Market Conditions Staff Working Paper 2021-35 Grzegorz Halaj, Sofia Priazhkina Our stress-testing tool considers banks under stress that can strategically manage their balance sheets. Using confidential Canadian supervisory data, we assess whether bank behaviour to maximize shareholder value can amplify a hypothetical stress scenario. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, C7, C72, G, G2, G21
The Side Effects of Safe Asset Creation Staff Working Paper 2021-34 Sushant Acharya, Keshav Dogra The secular decline in real interest rates has created a challenge for monetary policy, now confronting the zero lower bound more often. An increase in the supply of safe assets reduces downward pressure on the natural interest rate. This allows monetary policy to reach price stability and full employment, but not without cost—permanently lower investment. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Fiscal policy, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E3, E4, E5, G, G1, H, H6
The Anatomy of Sentiment-Driven Fluctuations Staff Working Paper 2021-33 Sushant Acharya, Jess Benhabib, Zhen Huo We show that changes in sentiment that aren’t related to fundamentals can drive persistent macroeconomic fluctuations even when all economic agents are rational. Changes in sentiment can also affect how fundamental shocks affect macroeconomic outcomes. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E2, E20, E3, E32, F, F4, F44
The Effects of Government Licensing on E-commerce: Evidence from Alibaba Staff Working Paper 2021-32 Ginger Zhe Jin, Zhentong Lu, Xiaolu Zhou, Chunxiao Li How does government licensing affect selling on online platforms? We examine the impact of China’s 2015 Food Safety Law on sellers and buyers on Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in that country. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Market structure and pricing, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, K, K2, K23, L, L5, L8, L81