August 23, 2004 The Evolution of Liquidity in the Market for Government of Canada Bonds Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2004 Stacey Anderson, Stéphane Lavoie Using turnover ratios, Anderson and Lavoie describe the recent evolution of liquidity in various secondary government bond markets, focusing specifically on the market for Government of Canada securities. They attribute much of the recent variation in liquidity to such cyclical factors as changes in the interest rate environment and investors' appetite for risk, as well as developments in equity markets in the late 1990s. They also examine longer-term structural and policy-related trends, including the rate of adoption of financial and technological innovations and the level of government borrowing and debt-management initiatives. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Recent economic and financial developments
Uninsurable Investment Risks Staff Working Paper 2004-29 Césaire Meh, Vincenzo Quadrini The authors study a general-equilibrium economy in which agents have the ability to invest in a risky technology. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E2, E21, G, G0
Commodity-Linked Bonds: A Potential Means for Less-Developed Countries to Raise Foreign Capital Staff Working Paper 2004-20 Joseph Atta-Mensah The author suggests that commodity-linked bonds could provide a potential means for less-developed countries (LDCs) to raise money on the international capital markets, rather than through standard forms of financing. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Development economics, Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, F34, F4, F49, G, G1, G11, G13, O, O1, O16
International Cross-Listing and the Bonding Hypothesis Staff Working Paper 2004-17 Michael R. King, Dan Segal The authors describe a new view of cross-listing that links the impact on firm valuation to the firm's ability to develop an active secondary market for its shares in the U.S. markets. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G15
The Effects of Economic News on Bond Market Liquidity Staff Working Paper 2004-16 Chris D'Souza, Charles Gaa The authors contrast the impact of two sources of information flow on the volatility of prices, trading activity, and liquidity in the brokered interdealer market for Government of Canada bonds. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G14
Public Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship Staff Working Paper 2004-10 Oana Secrieru, Marianne Vigneault Entrepreneurship is a key factor in promoting growth in output and employment. Consequently, to encourage new start-ups, most governments in developed countries have public venture capital programs. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Fiscal policy, Labour markets JEL Code(s): D, D2, G, G2, G24, G28, J, J2, J24, M, M1, M13
December 21, 2003 The Rationale for Cross-Border Listings Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2003-2004 Éric Chouinard, Chris D'Souza Technological progress and the liberalization of capital flows have both contributed to the considerable changes in global equity markets over the past few decades. Yet obstacles to international capital flows still exist, leading to segmentation of markets and creating incentives for corporate managers to adopt financial policies such as international cross-listing. In exploring the costs and benefits of cross-listing, Chouinard and D'Souza find that U.S. exchanges are attracting an increasing share of cross-listed firms. The empirical studies they review suggest that the cost of equity capital declines following a foreign listing as a result of lower transactions costs or an improvement in the quality and quantity of firm-specific information available to investors. As well, informational asymmetries across countries prevent simultaneous price discovery across exchanges. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics
November 23, 2003 An Evaluation of Fixed Announcement Dates Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2003 Nicolas Parent, Phoebe Munro, Ron Parker When it launched a new system for regularly announcing its decisions regarding the overnight rate of interest in December 2000, the Bank of Canada had a number of key objectives in mind. These included reduced uncertainty in financial markets, greater focus on the Canadian rather than the U.S. economic environment, more emphasis on the medium-term perspective of monetary policy, and increased transparency regarding the Bank's interest rate decisions. Evidence to date suggests that all four objectives have been met to a substantial degree. Fixed announcement dates have provided regular opportunities for the Bank to communicate its views on the state of the Canadian economy to the public. This has helped to improve understanding of the broad direction of monetary policy and of the rationale behind the Bank's policy decisions although the decisions themselves are not always fully anticipated. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credibility, Financial markets, Interest rates, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy implementation
Governance and Financial Fragility: Evidence from a Cross-Section of Countries Staff Working Paper 2003-34 Michael Francis The author explores the role of governance mechanisms as a means of reducing financial fragility. First, he develops a simple theoretical general-equilibrium model in which instability arises due to an agency problem resulting from a conflict of interest between the borrower and lender. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G0
An Empirical Analysis of Liquidity and Order Flow in the Brokered Interdealer Market for Government of Canada Bonds Staff Working Paper 2003-28 Chris D'Souza, Charles Gaa, Jing Yang The authors empirically measure Canadian bond market liquidity using a number of indicators proposed in the literature and detail, for the first time, price and trade dynamics in the Government of Canada secondary bond market. They find, consistent with Inoue (1999), that the Canadian brokered interdealer fixed-income market is relatively liquid for its size. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G14