Relative Prices, Trading Gains, and Real GDI: The Case of Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2009-4 Yi Zheng Treating imports as intermediate inputs to domestic production, the author adopts the translog function approach to model real gross domestic income (GDI) in Canada over the 1961–2006 period. She explores the role of price ratios, such as terms of trade and the real effective exchange rate, in explaining changes in real GDI, trade openness, trade […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Productivity JEL Code(s): C, C4, C43, D, D3, D33, F, F1, F10, O, O4, O47
Labour Shares and the Role of Capital and Labour Market Imperfections Staff Discussion Paper 2009-2 Lena Suchanek In continental Europe, labour shares in national income have exhibited considerable variation since 1970. Empirical and theoretical research suggests that the evolution of labour markets and labour market imperfections can, in part, explain this phenomenon. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C7, C78, E, E2, E25, J, J6, J64
Monetary Policy Lag, Zero Lower Bound, and Inflation Targeting Staff Working Paper 2009-2 Shin-Ichi Nishiyama Although the concept of monetary policy lag has historical roots deep in the monetary economics literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the idea. In this paper, we build on Svensson's (1997) inflation targeting framework by explicitly taking into account the lagged effect of monetary policy and characterize the optimal monetary policy reaction function both in the absence and in the presence of the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, E, E5, E52, E58
Futures Markets, Oil Prices and the Intertemporal Approach to the Current Account Staff Working Paper 2008-48 Elif Arbatli The intertemporal approach to the current account suggests modeling movements in the current account in a forward-looking, dynamic framework. In this framework, the current account reflects consumption smoothing of agents that lend and borrow from the rest of the world in the face of transitory shocks to income. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Balance of payments and components JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, F, F2, F21, F3, F32, G, G1, G13
Which Bank is the "Central" Bank? An Application of Markov Theory to the Canadian Large Value Transfer System Staff Working Paper 2008-42 Morten Bech, James Chapman, Rodney J. Garratt We use a method similar to Google's PageRank procedure to rank banks in the Canadian Large Value Transfer System (LVTS). Along the way we obtain estimates of the payment processing speeds for the individual banks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, E, E5, E50, G, G2, G20
Are There Canada-U.S. Differences in SME Financing? Staff Working Paper 2008-41 Danny Leung, Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima Previous surveys of Canadian and U.S. business owners suggest that access to financing in Canada may be more problematic than in the United States. Using the 2003 Survey of Small Business Financing in the United States and the 2004 Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises in Canada, this paper examines whether this perception can be better quantified. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C2, C21, G, G2, G21
Combining Canadian Interest-Rate Forecasts Staff Working Paper 2008-34 David Bolder, Yuliya Romanyuk Model risk is a constant danger for financial economists using interest-rate forecasts for the purposes of monetary policy analysis, portfolio allocations, or risk-management decisions. Use of multiple models does not necessarily solve the problem as it greatly increases the work required and still leaves the question "which model forecast should one use?" Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, E, E4, E43, E47
Non-Linearities, Model Uncertainty, and Macro Stress Testing Staff Working Paper 2008-30 Miroslav Misina, David Tessier A distinguishing feature of macro stress testing exercises is the use of macroeconomic models in scenario design and implementation. It is widely agreed that scenarios should be based on "rare but plausible" events that have either resulted in vulnerabilities in the past or could do so in the future. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, G, G2, G21, G3, G33
A Structural VAR Approach to Core Inflation in Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2008-10 Sylvain Martel The author constructs a measure of core inflation using a structural vector autoregression containing oil-price growth, output growth, and inflation. This "macro-founded" measure of inflation forecasts total inflation at least as well as other, atheoretical measures. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E31
Empirical Likelihood Block Bootstrapping Staff Working Paper 2008-18 Jason Allen, Allan Gregory, Katsumi Shimotsu Monte Carlo evidence has made it clear that asymptotic tests based on generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation have disappointing size. The problem is exacerbated when the moment conditions are serially correlated. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C2, C22