Real and Nominal Frictions within the Firm: How Lumpy Investment Matters for Price Adjustment Staff Working Paper 2009-36 Michael K. Johnston Real rigidities are an important feature of modern sticky price models and are policy-relevant because of their welfare consequences, but cannot be structurally identified from time series. I evaluate the plausibility of capital specificity as a source of real rigidities using a two-dimensional generalized (s,S) model calibrated to micro evidence. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E2, E22, E3, E31
Consumption, Housing Collateral, and the Canadian Business Cycle Staff Working Paper 2009-26 Ian Christensen, Paul Corrigan, Caterina Mendicino, Shin-Ichi Nishiyama Using Bayesian methods, we estimate a small open economy model in which consumers face limits to credit determined by the value of their housing stock. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the role of collateralized household debt in the Canadian business cycle. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E3, E32, E4, E44, E5, E52, R, R2, R21
Credit Constraints and Consumer Spending Staff Working Paper 2009-25 Kimberly Beaton This paper examines the relationship between aggregate consumer spending and credit availability in the United States. The author finds that consumer spending falls (rises) in response to a reduction (increase) in credit availability. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Domestic demand and components, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E27, E4, E44, E5, E51, E58
Household Debt, Assets, and Income in Canada: A Microdata Study Staff Discussion Paper 2009-7 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima, David Xiao Chen, Thomas J. Carter The authors use microdata from the 1999 and 2005 Surveys of Financial Security to identify changes in household debt, and discuss their potential implications for monetary policy and financial stability. They document an increase in the debt-income ratio, which rose from 0.75 to 0.95, on average. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Productivity, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E24
Real Effects of Price Stability with Endogenous Nominal Indexation Staff Working Paper 2009-16 Césaire Meh, Vincenzo Quadrini, Yaz Terajima We study a model with repeated moral hazard where financial contracts are not fully indexed to inflation because nominal prices are observed with delay as in Jovanovic & Ueda (1997). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E3, E31, E4, E44, E5, E52
Labour Shares and the Role of Capital and Labour Market Imperfections Staff Discussion Paper 2009-2 Lena Suchanek In continental Europe, labour shares in national income have exhibited considerable variation since 1970. Empirical and theoretical research suggests that the evolution of labour markets and labour market imperfections can, in part, explain this phenomenon. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C7, C78, E, E2, E25, J, J6, J64
What Accounts for the U.S.-Canada Education-Premium Difference? Staff Working Paper 2009-4 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Alexander Ueberfeldt This paper analyzes the differences in wage ratios of university graduates to less than university graduates, the education premium, in Canada and the United States from 1980 to 2000. Both countries experienced a similar increase in the fraction of university graduates and a similar increase in skill biased technological change based on capital-embodied technological progress, but only the United States had a large increase in the education premium. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E25, J, J2, J24, J3, J31
Uninsurable Investment Risks and Capital Income Taxation Staff Working Paper 2009-3 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima This paper studies the capital accumulation and welfare implications of reducing capital income taxation in a general equilibrium economy with uninsurable investment risks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E22, E6, E62, G, G3, G32, H, H2, H24, H25
A Model of Costly Capital Reallocation and Aggregate Productivity Staff Working Paper 2008-38 Shutao Cao The author studies the effects of capital reallocation (the flow of productive capital across firms and establishments mainly through changes in ownership) on aggregate labour productivity. Capital reallocation is an important activity in the United States: on average, its total value is 3–4 per cent of U.S. GDP. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, L, L1, L16
Globalization and Inflation: The Role of China Staff Working Paper 2008-35 Denise Côté, Carlos De Resende In this paper, we develop a theoretical model which identifies four channels–import prices, competition with domestic suppliers and workers, and commodity prices–through which price- and wage-setting conditions in country j may affect inflation in country i. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): International topics JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, E3, E32, E4, E44