The Secular Decline of Forecasted Interest Rates Staff analytical note 2019-1 Bruno Feunou, Jean-Sébastien Fontaine Canadian interest rates show a secular decline since the 1980s. Long-term survey-based forecasts of interest rates also declined, but less so and were more gradual. Our model-based estimates show an endpoint shifting over time in three phases: a decline between 1990 and 1995, a period of stability between 1996 and 2007, and a further decline since 2008. The current endpoint estimate remains clouded with uncertainty; this is an active area of research. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, G, G1, G12 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting
The Role of Corporate Saving over the Business Cycle: Shock Absorber or Amplifier? Staff working paper 2018-59 Xiaodan Gao, Shaofeng Xu We document countercyclical corporate saving behavior with the degree of countercyclicality varying nonmonotonically with firm size. We then develop a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms to explain the pattern and study its implications for business cycles. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E20, E22, E3, E32, G, G3, G31, G32 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Fundamental Drivers of Existing Home Sales in Canada Staff discussion paper 2018-16 Taylor Webley Existing home sales’ share of Canada’s economic pie has been rising in recent years, and variation around this trend has resulted in outsized contributions to changes in real gross domestic product (GDP). In this context, we use a cointegration framework to estimate the level of resale activity across the Canadian provinces that is supported by fundamentals—namely, full-time employment, housing affordability and migration flows—to help look through the volatility. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C23, E, E2, E27, R, R2, R21 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
GDP by Industry in Real Time: Are Revisions Well Behaved? Staff analytical note 2018-40 Patrick Rizzetto The monthly data for real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry are used extensively in real time both to ground the Bank of Canada’s monitoring of economic activity and in the Bank’s nowcasting tools, making these data one of the most important high-frequency time series for Canadian nowcasting. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, C8, C82, E, E0, E01 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
The Trade War in Numbers Staff working paper 2018-57 Karyne B. Charbonneau, Anthony Landry We build upon new developments in the international trade literature to isolate and quantify the long-run economic impacts of tariff changes on the United States and the global economy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F1, F11, F13, F14, F15, F5, F50, F6, F62, F68 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
The Propagation of Regional Shocks in Housing Markets: Evidence from Oil Price Shocks in Canada Staff working paper 2018-56 Lutz Kilian, Xiaoqing Zhou How do global oil price shocks spread through Canada’s economy? With Canada’s regionally diverse economy in mind, we explore the implications of oil price shocks for Canadian housing markets and regional economies. We show that the belief that oil price shocks only matter in oil-rich regions is false. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F4, F43, Q, Q3, Q33, Q4, Q43, R, R1, R12, R3, R31 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting
An Alternative Estimate of Canadian Potential Output: The Multivariate State-Space Framework Staff discussion paper 2018-14 Lise Pichette, Maria Bernier, Marie-Noëlle Robitaille In this paper, we extend the state-space methodology proposed by Blagrave et al. (2015) and decompose Canadian potential output into trend labour productivity and trend labour input. As in Blagrave et al. (2015), we include output growth and inflation expectations from consensus forecasts to help refine our estimates. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, E, E0, E5 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Non-Performing Loans, Fiscal Costs and Credit Expansion in China Staff working paper 2018-53 Huixin Bi, Yongquan Cao, Wei Dong This paper studies how the credit expansion policy pursued by the Chinese government in an effort to stimulate its economy in the post-crisis period affects bank–firm loan contracts and the macroeconomy. We build a structural model with financial frictions in which the optimal loan contract reflects the trade-off between leverage and the probability of default. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E6, E62 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Evaluating the Bank of Canada Staff Economic Projections Using a New Database of Real-Time Data and Forecasts Staff working paper 2018-52 Julien Champagne, Guillaume Poulin-Bellisle, Rodrigo Sekkel We present a novel database of real-time data and forecasts from the Bank of Canada’s staff economic projections. We then provide a forecast evaluation for GDP growth and CPI inflation since 1982: we compare the staff forecasts with those from commonly used time-series models estimated with real-time data and with forecasts from other professional forecasters and provide standard bias tests. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E1, E17, E3, E37 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting
Disaggregating Household Sensitivity to Monetary Policy by Expenditure Category Staff analytical note 2018-32 Tony Chernis, Corinne Luu Because the Bank of Canada has started withdrawing monetary stimulus, monitoring the transmission of these changes to monetary policy will be important. Subcomponents of consumption and housing will likely respond differently to a monetary policy tightening, both in terms of the aggregate effect and timing. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E2, E21, E22, E4, E43, E47, E5, E52 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting