December 1, 2004 Nominations Invited for the Bank of Canada's Law Enforcement Award of Excellence for Counterfeit Deterrence Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario Effective today, the Bank of Canada is inviting nominations for the second annual Law Enforcement Award of Excellence for Counterfeit Deterrence. This award is presented to one or more police officers, employees, or volunteers of a Canadian law enforcement agency who have demonstrated outstanding commitment and initiative in the fight against bank note counterfeiting or in the prevention of counterfeiting. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
Trade Credit and Credit Rationing in Canadian Firms Staff Working Paper 2004-49 Rose Cunningham Burkart and Ellingsen's (2004) model of trade credit and bank credit rationing predicts that trade credit will be used by medium-wealth and low-wealth firms to help ease bank credit rationing. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G14, G2, G21, G3, G32
An Empirical Analysis of the Canadian Term Structure of Zero-Coupon Interest Rates Staff Working Paper 2004-48 David Bolder, Adam Metzler, Grahame Johnson Zero-coupon interest rates are the fundamental building block of fixed-income mathematics, and as such have an extensive number of applications in both finance and economics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1
The Monetary Origins of Asymmetric Information in International Equity Markets Staff Working Paper 2004-47 Gregory Bauer, Clara Vega Existing studies using low-frequency data show that macroeconomic shocks contribute little to international stock market covariation. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G1, G12, G14, G15
Une approche éclectique d'estimation du PIB potentiel pour le Royaume-Uni Staff Working Paper 2004-46 Charles St-Arnaud The author describes results obtained by using a new methodology to estimate potential output for the United Kingdom. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Potential output JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E2, E23, E3, E32
Modelling the Evolution of Credit Spreads in the United States Staff Working Paper 2004-45 Stuart Turnbull, Jun Yang The authors use Jarrow and Turnbull's (1995) reduced-form methodology to model the evolution of the term structure of interest rates in the United States for different credit classes and different industries. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G13
November 24, 2004 Opening Statement before the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce Opening statement David Dodge Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce The Canadian economy grew faster in the first half of the year than we had projected, largely because of a surge in exports. The economy is now operating near its production capacity and continues to adjust to global developments. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements
November 24, 2004 Asset Prices and Monetary Policy: A Canadian Perspective on the Issues Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Jack Selody, Carolyn A. Wilkins The issue addressed in this article is the extent to which monetary policy in Canada should respond to asset-price bubbles. The article concludes that maintaining low and stable consumer price inflation is the best contribution that monetary policy can make to promoting economic and financial stability, even when the economy experiences asset-price bubbles. In extreme circumstances—when an asset-price bubble is well identified and likely to have significant costs to the economy when it bursts—monetary policy might better maintain low and stable consumer price inflation by leaning against a particular bubble even though it may mean that inflation deviates temporarily from its target. Such a strategy might reduce the risk that a crash in asset prices could lead to a recession and to inflation markedly below target in the longer run. The circumstances where this strategy is possible will be rare because economists are far from being able to determine consistently and reliably when leaning against a particular bubble is likely to do more harm than good. Housing-price bubbles should be a greater concern for Canadian monetary policy than equity-price bubbles, since rising housing prices are more likely to reflect excessively easy domestic credit conditions than are equity prices, which are largely determined in global markets. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy framework
November 24, 2004 Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Cover page Bus Transportation Tokens and Tickets The pieces illustrated on the cover range in size from 12 mm to 38 mm in diameter or width. They form part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada. Photography by Gord Carter, Ottawa Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
November 23, 2004 Real Return Bonds: Monetary Policy Credibility and Short-Term Inflation Forecasting Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Christopher Reid, Frédéric Dion, Ian Christensen The break-even inflation rate (BEIR) is calculated by comparing the yields on conventional and Real Return Bonds. Defined as the average rate of inflation that equates the expected returns on these two bonds, the BEIR has the potential to contain useful information about long-run inflation expectations. Yet the BEIR has been higher, on average, and more variable than survey measures of inflation expectations, which may be explained by the effects of premiums and distortions embedded in the BEIR. Because of the difficulty in accounting for these distortions, the BEIR should not be given a large weight as a measure of long-run inflation expectations at this time. However, as the Real Return Bond market continues to develop, the BEIR should become a more useful indicator of inflation expectations. At present, it demonstrates no clear advantage over survey measures and even past inflation rates in forecasting near-term inflation. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing