Fiscal Policy in the Age of COVID-19: Does It “Get in All of the Cracks”? Staff working paper 2022-45 Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, Şebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Veronika Penciakova, Nicholas Sander The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an atypical recession in which some sectors of the economy boomed and others collapsed. This required a unique fiscal policy reaction to both support firms and stimulate activity in sectors with slack. Was fiscal policy able to get where it was needed? Mostly, yes. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D5, D57, E, E6, E62, F, F4, F41 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Has wage setting changed in Canada? Evidence from the pre-pandemic 2020 Wage-Setting Survey Staff analytical note 2022-10 David Amirault, Sarah Miller, Matthieu Verstraete Just before the pandemic began, the Bank of Canada conducted the 2020 Wage-Setting Survey. The goal was to explore the unusual trend of subdued wage growth in 2018 and 2019 despite a tightening in the labour market. Although this wage puzzle was beginning to resolve at the time of the survey, results highlight changes in several factors that may have important impacts on wage dynamics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): J, J3, J31, J32, J33, J6, J63 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply, Digitalization and productivity
Weather the Storms? Hurricanes, Technology and Oil Production Staff working paper 2022-36 Johan Brannlund, Geoffrey R. Dunbar, Reinhard Ellwanger, Matthew Krutkiewicz Do technological improvements mitigate the potential damages from extreme weather events? We show that hurricanes lower offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and that stronger storms have larger impacts. Regulations enacted in 1980 that required improved offshore construction standards only modestly mitigated the production losses. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C23, Q, Q4, Q40, Q48, Q5, Q54 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Climate change
Income Inequality in Canada Staff discussion paper 2022-16 Sarah Burkinshaw, Yaz Terajima, Carolyn A. Wilkins Data show that income inequality in Canada increased substantially during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s but has been relatively stable over the past 25 years. This increase was felt mainly by low-income earners and younger people, while older people benefited from higher retirement income. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, D6, D63, I, I2, I24, I3, I32, J, J3, J31, J32, N, N3, N32 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
International Transmission of Quantitative Easing Policies: Evidence from Canada Staff working paper 2022-30 Serdar Kabaca, Kerem Tuzcuoglu This paper examines the cross-border spillovers from major economies’ quantitative easing (QE) policies to their trading partners. We concentrate on spillovers from the US to Canada during the zero lower bound period when QE policies were actively used. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, F, F4, F41, F44 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Identifying Financially Remote First Nations Reserves Staff discussion paper 2022-11 Heng Chen, Walter Engert, Kim Huynh, Daneal O’Habib Chen et al. (2021) show that almost one-third of First Nations band offices in Canada are within 1 kilometre (km) of an automated banking machine (ABM) or financial institution (FI) branch and more than half are within 5 km. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5, G, G2, G21 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
Potential output and the neutral rate in Canada: 2022 reassessment Staff analytical note 2022-3 Guyllaume Faucher, Christopher Hajzler, Martin Kuncl, Dmitry Matveev, Youngmin Park, Temel Taskin We expect potential output growth to be lower in 2021 than anticipated in the April 2021 assessment. By 2025, growth is expected to reach 2.3%. We assess that the Canadian nominal neutral rate increased slightly to lie in the range of 2.00% to 3.00%. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
Benchmarks for assessing labour market health Staff analytical note 2022-2 Erik Ens, Corinne Luu, Kurt See, Shu Lin Wee We propose a range of benchmarks for assessing labour market strength for monetary policy. This work builds on a previous framework that considers how diverse and segmented the labour market is. We apply these benchmarks to the Canadian labour market and find that it has more than recovered from the COVID-19 shock. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J6 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
Exports and the Exchange Rate: A General Equilibrium Perspective Staff working paper 2022-18 Patrick Alexander, Abeer Reza How do a country’s exports change when its currency depreciates? Does it matter which forces drive the exchange rate deprecation in the first place? We find that this relationship varies greatly depending on what drives exchange rate movements, and we conclude that the direct relationship between the exchange rate and exports is weak for Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, F32, F33, F4, F41 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, International markets and currencies, Models and tools, Economic models, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
What COVID-19 May Leave Behind: Technology-Related Job Postings in Canada Staff working paper 2022-17 Alejandra Bellatin, Gabriela Galassi COVID-19 affects technology adoption: online job postings for technology-related occupations fall less during pandemic lockdowns and pick up faster during reopenings than postings for more traditional occupations. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): J, J2, J23, J24, O, O1, O14 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply, Digitalization and productivity