The Canadian corporate investment gap Staff Analytical Note 2020-19 Chris D'Souza, Timothy Grieder, Daniel Hyun, Jonathan Witmer Business investment has been lower than expected in Canada and abroad since the financial crisis of 2007–09. This corporate investment gap is mirrored in firms’ other financing decisions, as they have increased cash holdings and dividend payments and decreased issuance of debt and equity. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, D9, D92, G, G3, G31, G32
The Market for Acquiring Card Payments from Small and Medium-Sized Canadian Merchants Staff Discussion Paper 2020-5 Angelika Welte, Jozsef Molnar This note uses industry data and a unique dataset of small and medium-sized merchants to provide insights into the acquirer-merchant market in Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial services, Market structure and pricing, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C2, D, D2, E, E4, E42
Multi-Product Pricing: Theory and Evidence from Large Retailers in Israel Staff Working Paper 2020-12 Marco Bonomo, Carlos Carvalho, Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Sigal Ribon, Rodolfo Rigato Standard theories of price adjustment are based on the problem of a single-product firm, and therefore they may not be well suited to analyze price dynamics in the economy with multiproduct firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): D, D2, D21, D22, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, L, L1, L11
Welfare Analysis of Equilibria With and Without Early Termination Fees in the US Wireless Industry Staff Working Paper 2020-9 Joseph Cullen, Nicolas Schutz, Oleksandr Shcherbakov The elimination of long-term contracts and early termination fees (ETFs) in the US wireless industry at the end of 2015 increased monthly service fees by 2 to 5 percent. Nevertheless, consumers are clearly better off without ETFs. While firms’ revenues from ETFs vanish, their profits from monthly fees increase. As a result, the overall effect on producer profits is less clear. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Firm dynamics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L15, L9, L96
2018 Merchant Acceptance Survey Staff Analytical Note 2019-31 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Mitchell Nicholson In 2015, the Bank of Canada surveyed merchants and found that cash was nearly universally accepted (Fung, Huynh and Kosse 2017). Since 2015, retail payments in Canada have become increasingly digitalized, as many Canadians have adopted digital payment innovations like contactless cards and Interac e-Transfer. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C8, D, D2, D22, E, E4, L, L2
Amazon Effects in Canadian Online Retail Firm-Product-Level Data Staff Working Paper 2019-42 Alex Chernoff I use firm-product-level data for Canadian online retailers to study how product scope (the average number of product categories per firm) evolved from 1999 to 2012. During this period, product scope dropped monotonically from 59 to 5 product categories. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Service sector JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L11, L8, L81
Firm-level Investment Under Imperfect Capital Markets in Ukraine Staff Working Paper 2019-14 Oleksandr Shcherbakov This paper develops and estimates a model of firm-level fixed capital investment when firms face borrowing constraints. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models, Firm dynamics JEL Code(s): C, C6, C61, C63, D, D2, D24, G, G3, G31
The Productivity Slowdown in Canada: An ICT Phenomenon? Staff Working Paper 2019-2 Jeffrey Mollins, Pierre St-Amant We ask whether a weaker contribution of information and communication technologies (ICT) to productivity growth could account for the productivity slowdown observed in Canada since the early 2000s. To answer this question, we consider several methods capturing channels through which ICT could affect aggregate productivity growth. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, O, O4, O41, O47
How Long Does It Take You to Pay? A Duration Study of Canadian Retail Transaction Payment Times Staff Working Paper 2018-46 Geneviève Vallée Using an exclusive data set of payment times for retail transactions made in Canada, I show that cash is the most time-efficient method of payment (MOP) when compared with payments by debit and credit cards. I model payment efficiency using Cox proportional hazard models, accounting for consumer choice of MOP. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C2, C25, C3, C36, C4, C41, D, D2, D23, E, E4, E41, E42
Does Outward Foreign Investment Matter for Canadian Productivity? Evidence from Greenfield Investments Staff Working Paper 2018-31 Naveen Rai, Lena Suchanek, Maria Bernier This paper seeks to understand how outward foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the productivity of Canadian firms. We estimate the impact of outward greenfield investment on measures of firm-level productivity using FDI data from roughly 2,000 Canadian firms and more than 4,000 outward FDI projects over the 2003–14 period. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24, F, F2, F21, F23