Markups and inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic Staff analytical note 2023-8 Olga Bilyk, Timothy Grieder, Mikael Khan We find that prices and costs for consumer-oriented firms moved roughly one-for-one during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means firms fully passed rising costs through to the prices they charged. However, our results are suggestive, given data limitations and the uncertainty associated with estimating markups. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D2, D4, E, E2, E3, L, L1 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting
Understanding Inflation Dynamics: The Role of Government Expenditures Staff working paper 2023-30 Chang Liu, Yinxi Xie We study the impact government expenditure has on inflation. We find that changes in government expenditure account for a substantial portion of inflation variations. We also find that inflation and inflation expectations respond negatively to fiscal spending shocks, reaffirming the supply-side channel through which inflation responds to fiscal expansions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E3, E6, E62, E63 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures
August 27, 2024 How high productivity helps fight inflation Higher productivity helps keep prices down and wages up. It gives workers more money to spend and increases the value they get when they spend it. And it allows businesses to weather cost increases without having to raise prices. All together, these factors drive economic growth. Content Type(s): Publications, The Economy, Plain and Simple Subject(s): Monetary policy, Economy/Economic growth, Inflation, Inflation targeting framework
January 29, 2002 Inflation Targeting During a Difficult Year Remarks David Dodge Saskatoon and District Chamber of Commerce Saskatoon, Saskatchewan One of the main benefits of the targets is that they help the economy to run more smoothly when there are surprises in the level of demand for Canadian goods and services. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
December 15, 2007 Introduction: Recent Research on Inflation Targeting Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2007-2008 John Murray The inflation targeting framework that Canada introduced in 1991 has played a significant role in the exceptional economic performance that the country has experienced in recent years. Understanding the factors that have contributed to the success of the current inflation-targeting framework, and investigating the various ways in which it might be improved in the future, are an important part of the Bank of Canada's medium-term research program. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
November 13, 1997 Statistical measures of the trend rate of inflation Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 1997 Thérèse Laflèche As a guide for the conduct of monetary policy, most central banks make use of a trend inflation index similar to that employed by the Bank of Canada: the CPI excluding food, energy, and the effect of indirect taxes. In addition to their basic reference index, some central banks regularly publish statistical measures of the trend rate of inflation. The method used for producing these measures is, for the most part, based on the hypothesis that extreme price fluctuations generally reflect temporary shocks to the inflation rate, rather than its underlying trend. In this paper, the author offers a broad survey of studies on the measurement of trend inflation that have been published by the Bank of Canada and presents the results of the most recent work on the subject. Particular attention is paid to two statistical measures that the Bank follows more closely than other measures; namely, the CPIX, a price index that excludes eight of the most volatile CPI components, and CPIW, a measure that retains all the components of the overall index but gives a lower weighting to the most volatile. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
May 14, 2015 Inflation Dynamics in the Post-Crisis Period Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2015 Christian Friedrich, Marc-André Gosselin Inflation rates in advanced economies experienced two consecutive puzzles during the period following the global financial crisis—unexpectedly high inflation from the end of 2009 to 2011 and unexpectedly low inflation from 2012 to the middle of 2014. We investigate these developments in two ways. First, we show that accounting for inflation expectations by households explains a significant share of the inflation puzzles at the international level. Second, we find that, for Canada, elevated competition in the retail sector is also important for understanding inflation dynamics in the post-crisis period. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, F, F4, F41
August 25, 2020 Perceived inflation and reality: understanding the difference Remarks (delivered virtually) Lawrence L. Schembri Canadian Association for Business Economics Kingston, Ontario In a virtual address to the Canadian Association for Business Economics, Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri discusses the difference between how Canadians perceive inflation and the actual measured rate. He explains why that gap may exist and what it could mean for monetary policy and the economy. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Subject(s): Monetary policy, Economic models, Economy/Economic growth, Inflation, Inflation targeting framework
Exploring the potential benefits of inflation overshooting Staff analytical note 2021-16 Robert Amano, Marc-André Gosselin, Kurt See After a period with the interest rate at the effective lower bound, temporarily overshooting inflation may offer important economic benefits. This may be especially true for vulnerable segments of the population, such as workers with low attachment to the labour force and the long-term unemployed. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, J, J2, J20 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting
Preferences, Monetary Policy and Household Inflation Staff working paper 2024-45 Geoffrey R. Dunbar I quantify the importance of changes in household preferences on household inflation rates using 11 years of scanner data for 11,000 US households. My results suggest that changes in household preferences are an important driver of inflation dynamics at the household level. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E5, E52, E58 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation