(Un)Conventional Monetary and Fiscal Policy Staff working paper 2023-6 Jing Cynthia Wu, Yinxi Xie We build a tractable New Keynesian model to study and compare four types of monetary and fiscal policy: policy rate adjustments, quantitative easing, lump-sum fiscal transfers and government spending. We find that tax-financed fiscal policy is more stimulative than debt-financed policy, and optimal policy coordination needs at least two of these four policy instruments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E6, E61, E62, E63 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Real economy and forecasting
May 23, 2003 The Bank of Canada: Moving Towards Transparency Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2003 John Chant During the 1990s the Bank of Canada made several changes that transformed its conduct of monetary policy. In the 1960s and 1970s, policy decisions were made in an environment characterized by instrument opaqueness and goal opaqueness, which tended to shield the Bank's operations from scrutiny and accountability. Since the 1970s the Bank has moved towards transparency and openness by rejecting multiple policy instruments and adopting a single, well-defined goal of inflation control. A recent survey has shown that the Bank of Canada is in the middle range of central banks with regard to its transparency and has lost points for not publishing the forecasts that shape its policy or the minutes and voting records of its governing body. Chant suggests that the public has benefited significantly from the changes the Bank has made, but that it should continue to support research on the benefits of low and stable inflation and continually inform other policy-makers and the public of the results. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
January 6, 2006 Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2005-2006 Cover page Silver Presentation Salver The salver, which was bequeathed to the Bank of Canada by Lady Macmillan in 1967, is part of the artifact collection of the Bank of Canada Archives. Photography by Mone Cheng, Innovacom, Ottawa. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
Predictive Ability of Commodity Prices for the Canadian Dollar Staff analytical note 2016-2 Kimberly Berg, Pierre Guérin, Yuko Imura Recent sharp declines in commodity prices and the simultaneous depreciation of the Canadian dollar (CAD) relative to the U.S. dollar (USD) have rekindled an interest in the relationship between commodity prices and the CAD-USD exchange rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, International markets and currencies, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
2018 Merchant Acceptance Survey Staff analytical note 2019-31 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Mitchell Nicholson In 2015, the Bank of Canada surveyed merchants and found that cash was nearly universally accepted (Fung, Huynh and Kosse 2017). Since 2015, retail payments in Canada have become increasingly digitalized, as many Canadians have adopted digital payment innovations like contactless cards and Interac e-Transfer. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): C, C8, D, D2, D22, E, E4, L, L2 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Retail payments
December 9, 1994 The term structure of interest rates as a leading indicator of economic activity: A technical note Bank of Canada Review - Winter 1994-1995 Kevin Clinton The spread between long-term and short-term interest rates has proven to be an excellent predictor of changes of economic activity in Canada. As a general rule, when long-term interest rates have been much above short-term rates, strong increases in output have followed within about a year; however, whenever the yield curve has been inverted for any extended period of time, a recession has followed. Similar findings exist for other countries, including the United States. But although Canadian and U.S. interest rates generally move quite closely together, the Canadian yield curve has been distinctly better at predicting future Canadian output. The explanation given for this result is that the term spread has reflected both current monetary conditions, which affect short-term interest rates, and expected real returns on investment and expectations of inflation, which are the main determinants of long-term rates. This article is mainly a summary of econometric work done at the Bank. It also touches on some of the extensive recent literature in this area. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
The Role of Long-Term Contracting in Business Lending Staff working paper 2024-2 Phoebe Tian This paper examines inefficiencies arising from a lack of long-term contracting in small business lending in China. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, D86, G, G2, G21, L, L1, L14, L2, L26 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission
March 11, 2021 COVID-19, savings and household spending Remarks (delivered virtually) Lawrence L. Schembri Restaurants Canada Toronto, Ontario Deputy Governor Lawrence Schembri talks about the Bank’s latest interest rate announcement and discusses how COVID-19 has affected savings and the outlook household spending. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Subject(s): Monetary policy, Economy/Economic growth, Inflation, Inflation targeting framework
Information, Prices and Buyer Entry Staff working paper 2026-4 Mei Dong, Janet Hua Jiang, Ling Sun In markets with costly buyer entry, information transparency about prices draws in buyers, increasing demand-side competition and putting upward pressure on prices. We show that this buyer entry effect may dominate seller competition as emphasized by conventional wisdom and prices and markups may rise with information transparency. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D4, D40, D8, D83, L, L1, L11 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models
The Impacts of Minimum Wage Increases on the Canadian Economy Staff analytical note 2017-26 Dany Brouillette, Daniel Gao, Olivier Gervais, Calista Cheung This note reviews the channels through which scheduled minimum wage increases over the coming years may affect Canadian economic activity and inflation and assesses their macroeconomic impacts. From reduced-form estimates of direct minimum wage pass-through, we find that consumer price index (CPI) inflation could be boosted by about 0.1 percentage point (pp) on average in 2018. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J22, J23 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting