Is There a Quality Bias in the Canadian CPI? Evidence from Micro Data Staff Working Paper 2013-24 Oleksiy Kryvtsov Rising consumer prices may reflect shifts by consumers to new higher-priced products, mostly for durable and semi-durable goods. I apply Bils’ (2009) methodology to newly available Canadian consumer price data for non-shelter goods and services to estimate how price increases can be divided between quality growth and price inflation. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Potential output JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, M, M1, M11, O, O4, O47
Business Cycle Effects of Credit Shocks in a DSGE Model with Firm Defaults Staff Working Paper 2013-19 M. Hashem Pesaran, TengTeng Xu This paper proposes a theoretical framework to analyze the relationship between credit shocks, firm defaults and volatility, and to study the impact of credit shocks on business cycle dynamics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Economic models, Financial institutions JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, G, G2, G21
What Central Bankers Need to Know about Forecasting Oil Prices Staff Working Paper 2013-15 Christiane Baumeister, Lutz Kilian Forecasts of the quarterly real price of oil are routinely used by international organizations and central banks worldwide in assessing the global and domestic economic outlook, yet little is known about how best to generate such forecasts. Our analysis breaks new ground in several dimensions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E32, Q, Q4, Q43
Countercyclical Bank Capital Requirement and Optimized Monetary Policy Rules Staff Working Paper 2013-8 Carlos De Resende, Ali Dib, René Lalonde, Nikita Perevalov Using BoC-GEM-Fin, a large-scale DSGE model with real, nominal and financial frictions featuring a banking sector, we explore the macroeconomic implications of various types of countercyclical bank capital regulations. Results suggest that countercyclical capital requirements have a significant stabilizing effect on key macroeconomic variables, but mostly after financial shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, E5, G, G1, G2
Market Structure and Cost Pass-Through in Retail Staff Working Paper 2013-5 Gee Hee Hong, Nicholas Li We examine the extent to which vertical and horizontal market structure can together explain incomplete retail pass-through. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, E31, L, L1, L11, L16
Financial Development and the Volatility of Income Staff Working Paper 2013-4 Tiago Pinheiro, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Marc Teignier This paper presents a general equilibrium model with endogenous collateral constraints to study the relationship between financial development and business cycle fluctuations in a cross-section of economies with different sizes of their financial sector. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E6, E60
Real-financial Linkages through Loan Default and Bank Capital Staff Working Paper 2013-3 Tamon Takamura Many studies in macroeconomics argue that financial frictions do not amplify the impacts of real shocks. This finding is based on models without endogenous default on loans and bank capital. Using a model featuring endogenous interactions between firm default and bank capital, this paper revisits the propagation mechanisms of real and financial shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Interest rates JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, E6, E69
The Cyclicality of Sales, Regular and Effective Prices: Business Cycle and Policy Implications Staff Working Paper 2013-1 Olivier Coibion, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Gee Hee Hong We study the cyclical properties of sales, regular price changes and average prices paid by consumers (“effective” prices) using data on prices and quantities sold for numerous retailers across many U.S. metropolitan areas. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E4, E5
Extracting Information from the Business Outlook Survey Using Statistical Approaches Staff Discussion Paper 2012-8 Lise Pichette Since the autumn of 1997, the regional offices of the Bank of Canada have conducted quarterly consultations with businesses across Canada. These consultations, summarized in the Business Outlook Survey (BOS), are structured around a survey questionnaire that covers topics of importance to the Bank, notably business activity, pressures on production capacity, prices and inflation, and credit conditions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C4, C43, C8, C82, E, E3, E37
The Effects of Oil Price Uncertainty on the Macroeconomy Staff Working Paper 2012-40 Soojin Jo This paper investigates the effect of oil price uncertainty on real economic activity using a quarterly VAR with stochastic volatility in mean. Stochastic volatility allows oil price uncertainty to vary separately from changes in the level of oil prices, and thus the impact of oil price uncertainty can be examined in a more flexible yet tractable way. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E32, Q, Q4, Q43