The Role of Credit in International Business Cycles Staff Working Paper 2012-36 TengTeng Xu This paper examines the role of bank credit in modeling and forecasting business cycle fluctuations, and investigates the international transmission of US credit shocks, using a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) framework and associated country-specific error correction models. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Econometric and statistical methods, International financial markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E32, E4, E44, G, G2, G21
China’s Emergence in the World Economy and Business Cycles in Latin America Staff Working Paper 2012-32 Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi, M. Hashem Pesaran, Alessandro Rebucci, TengTeng Xu The international business cycle is very important for Latin America’s economic performance as the recent global crisis vividly illustrated. This paper investigates how changes in trade linkages between China, Latin America, and the rest of the world have altered the transmission mechanism of international business cycles to Latin America. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E3, E32, F, F4, F44, O, O5, O54
August 16, 2012 Measurement Bias in the Canadian Consumer Price Index: An Update Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2012 Patrick Sabourin The consumer price index (CPI) is the most commonly used measure to track changes in the overall level of prices. Since it departs from a true cost-of-living index, the CPI is subject to four types of measurement bias—commodity substitution, outlet substitution, new goods and quality adjustment. The author updates previous Bank of Canada estimates of measurement bias in the Canadian CPI by examining these four sources of potential bias. He finds the total measurement bias over the 2005–11 period to be about 0.5 percentage point per year, consistent with the Bank’s earlier findings. Slightly more than half of this bias is caused by the fixed nature of the CPI basket of goods and services. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52
Inflation and Growth: A New Keynesian Perspective Staff Working Paper 2012-23 Robert Amano, Thomas J. Carter, Kevin Moran The long-run relation between growth and inflation has not yet been studied in the context of nominal price and wage rigidities, despite the fact that these rigidities now figure prominently in workhorse macroeconomic models. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, O, O3, O31, O4, O42
The Sensitivity of Producer Prices to Exchange Rates: Insights from Micro Data Staff Working Paper 2012-20 Shutao Cao, Wei Dong, Ben Tomlin This paper studies the sensitivity of Canadian producer prices to the Canada-U.S. exchange rate. Using a unique product-level price data set, we estimate and analyze the impact of movements in the exchange rate on both domestic and export producer prices. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F3, F31, F4, F41, L, L1, L11
International Business Cycles and Financial Frictions Staff Working Paper 2012-19 Wen Yao This paper builds a two-country DSGE model to study the quantitative impact of financial frictions on business cycle co-movements when investors have foreign asset exposure. The investor in each country holds capital in both countries and faces a leverage constraint on her debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F4, F42, F44
Commodities and Monetary Policy: Implications for Inflation and Price Level Targeting Staff Working Paper 2012-16 Donald Coletti, René Lalonde, Paul Masson, Dirk Muir, Stephen Snudden We examine the relative ability of simple inflation targeting (IT) and price level targeting (PLT) monetary policy rules to minimize both inflation variability and business cycle fluctuations in Canada for shocks that have important consequences for global commodity prices. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Inflation and prices, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E1, E17, E3, E31, E37, E5, E52, F, F4, F41, Q, Q4, Q43
May 17, 2012 Inflation Targeting: The Recent International Experience Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2012 Robert Lavigne, Rhys R. Mendes, Subrata Sarker In the years since the 2006 renewal of Canada’s inflation-control agreement, monetary policy regimes have faced significant shocks, including the global economic and financial crisis. This article reviews the recent experience with inflation targeting, including the debate about the appropriate role of monetary policy in maintaining financial stability. In the aftermath of the crisis, both […] Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Credibility, Financial stability, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58
Changes in the Effects of Monetary Policy on Disaggregate Price Dynamics Staff Working Paper 2012-13 Christiane Baumeister, Philip Liu, Haroon Mumtaz We examine the evolution of the effects of monetary policy shocks on the distribution of disaggregate prices and quantities of personal consumption expenditures to assess the contribution of monetary policy to changes in U.S. inflation dynamics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, E32
House Price Dynamics: Fundamentals and Expectations Staff Working Paper 2012-12 Eleonora Granziera, Sharon Kozicki We investigate whether expectations that are not fully rational have the potential to explain the evolution of house prices and the price-to-rent ratio in the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Asset pricing, Domestic demand and components, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E3, E6, E65, R, R2, R21