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 JEL Code(s): C, C2, D, D2, E, E4, E42 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Money and payments, Payment and financial market infrastructures, Retail payments
A Simple Method for Extracting the Probability of Default from American Put Option Prices Staff working paper 2020-15 Bo Young Chang, Greg Orosi A put option is a financial contract that gives the holder the right to sell an asset at a specific price by (or at) a specific date. A put option can therefore provide its holder insurance against a large drop in the stock price. This makes the prices of put options an ideal source of information for a market-based measure of the probability of a firm’s default. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G13, G3, G33 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure
Optimal Taxation in Asset Markets with Adverse Selection Staff working paper 2020-11 Mohammad Davoodalhosseini What is the optimal tax schedule in over-the-counter markets, e.g., those for corporate bonds? I find that an optimal tax schedule is often non-monotonic. For example, trading of some high-price assets should be subsidized, and trading of some low-price assets should be taxed. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, D83, E, E2, E24, G, G1, G10, J, J3, J31, J6, J64 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Financial system, Financial system regulation and oversight
Do Protectionist Trade Policies Integrate Domestic Markets? Evidence from the Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Dispute Staff working paper 2020-10 Jinggang Guo, Craig Johnston We consider the effects of protectionist trade policies on international and domestic market integration, using evidence from the long-standing softwood lumber trade dispute between Canada and the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F1, F13, Q, Q1, Q17 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
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 JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L15, L9, L96 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
Identifying Consumer-Welfare Changes when Online Search Platforms Change Their List of Search Results Staff working paper 2020-5 Ryan Martin Online shopping is often guided by search platforms. Consumers type keywords into query boxes, and search platforms deliver a list of products. Consumers' attention is limited, and exhaustive searches are often impractical. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, D, D1, D11, D12, D6, D8, D83, L, L4, L40 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
A Spatial Model of Bank Branches in Canada Staff working paper 2020-4 Heng Chen, Matthew Strathearn Using data on bank branch locations across Canada from 2008 to 2018, we explore an interesting aspect of bank branch competition—geographic concentration. We find that bank branch density does not correlate with geographic and market concentration; however, we do find strong correlation with postal-code demographics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): L, L1, R, R3 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation
Contagion in Dealer Networks Staff working paper 2020-1 Jean-Sébastien Fontaine, Adrian Walton Dealers connect investors who want to buy or sell securities in financial markets. Over time, dealers and investors form trading networks to save time and resources. An emerging field of research investigates how networks form. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, G, G1, G2, G21, L, L1, L14 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk
Resolving Failed Banks: Uncertainty, Multiple Bidding & Auction Design Staff working paper 2019-30 Jason Allen, Robert Clark, Brent Hickman, Eric Richert Bank resolution is costly. In the United States, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) typically resolves failing banks by auction. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C57, D, D4, D44, G, G2, G21 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Financial system regulation and oversight
Using Exchange-Traded Funds to Measure Liquidity in the Canadian Corporate Bond Market Staff analytical note 2019-25 Rohan Arora, Guillaume Ouellet Leblanc, Jabir Sandhu, Jun Yang We introduce a new proxy for measuring corporate bond liquidity, using the price of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold corporate bonds. It measures the average liquidity across 900 corporate bonds every day, many more than other proxies used in previous Bank of Canada analysis. The new proxy nonetheless paints a very similar picture of liquidity conditions and confirms the previous findings: the liquidity of bonds has generally improved since 2010. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G14 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Market structure