The Monetary Transmission Mechanism at the Sectoral Level Staff Working Paper 2001-27 Jean Farès, Gabriel Srour This paper relies on simple vector autoregressions to investigate the monetary transmission mechanism in broad sectors of the Canadian economy. Two types of disaggregation are considered: one at the level of final expenditures, and one at the level of production. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52
Price-Level versus Inflation Targeting in a Small Open Economy Staff Working Paper 2001-24 Gabriel Srour This paper compares two types of monetary policy: price-level targeting and inflation targeting. It reviews recent arguments that favour price-level targeting, and examines how certain factors, such as the nature of the shocks affecting the economy and the degree to which agents are forward-looking, bear upon the arguments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52
On Inflation and the Persistence of Shocks to Output Staff Working Paper 2001-22 Maral Kichian, Richard Luger This paper empirically investigates the possibility that the effects of shocks to output depend on the level of inflation. The analysis extends Elwood's (1998) framework by incorporating in the model an inflation-threshold process that can potentially influence the stochastic properties of output. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52, E58
Gaining Credibility for Inflation Targets Staff Working Paper 2001-11 James Yetman In this paper, I consider a simple model in which agents learn about the inflation target of a central bank over time by observing the policy instrument or inflation outcomes. Measuring credibility as the distance between the perceived target and the actual target, an increase in credibility is beneficial to the central bank because it brings the policy consistent with attaining the inflation target closer to that required to attain the output target. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credibility, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52
How Rigid Are Nominal-Wage Rates? Staff Working Paper 2001-8 Allan Crawford This study examines the effect of nominal-wage rigidities on wage growth in Canada using a hazard model and micro data for union contracts. The hazard model is specified in a way that allows considerable flexibility in the shape of the estimated notional wage-change distribution. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E5, E52, E6, E61
Downward Nominal-Wage Rigidity: Micro Evidence from Tobit Models Staff Working Paper 2001-7 Allan Crawford, Geoff Wright This paper uses Tobit models and data for union contracts to examine the extent of downward nominal-wage rigidity in Canada. To be consistent with important stylized facts, the models allow the variance of the notional wage-change distribution to be time-varying and test for menu-cost effects. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E5, E52, E6, E61
The Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates: How Important Is It? Staff Working Paper 2001-6 David Amirault, Brian O'Reilly This paper surveys the literature on the zero bound on the nominal interest rate. It addresses questions ranging from the conditions under which the zero bound on the nominal interest rate might occur to policy options to avoid or use to exit from such a situation. We discuss literature that examines historical and country evidence, and literature that uses models to generate evidence on this question. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credibility, Inflation targets, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58, E6, E61
On Commodity-Sensitive Currencies and Inflation Targeting Staff Working Paper 2001-3 Kevin Clinton Two aspects of the recent monetary history of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand stand out: the sensitivity of their dollars to prices of resource-based commodities, and inflation targeting. This paper explores various aspects of these phenomena. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation targets, International topics, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, F, F3, F31, F4, F42
Identifying Policy-makers' Objectives: An Application to the Bank of Canada Staff Working Paper 2000-11 Nicholas Rowe, James Yetman In this paper, we develop a new way to test hypotheses about policy-makers' targets, and we implement that test for Canadian monetary policy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E6, E61
Probing Potential Output: Monetary Policy, Credibility, and Optimal Learning under Uncertainty Staff Working Paper 2000-10 James Yetman The effective conduct of monetary policy is complicated by uncertainty about the level of potential output, and thus about the size of the monetary policy response that would be sufficient to achieve the targeted inflation rate. One possible response to such uncertainty is for the monetary authority to "probe," interpreted here as actively using its policy response to learn about the level of potential output. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credibility, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Potential output JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58