Inflation: costs and benefits

• August 13, 2020

  Understanding inflation

  Inflation is a persistent rise in the average level of prices over time.

  Content Type(s): Explainers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation: costs and benefits
• March 6, 2020

  Under the microscope

  

  James (Jim) C. MacGee, Rhys R. Mendes

  Evaluating our approach to monetary policy

  Content Type(s): Publications, The Economy, Plain and Simple Topic(s): Credibility, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Interest rates, Monetary policy framework, Price stability
• February 21, 2019

  Price check: Inflation in Canada

  

  Sharon Kozicki, Jill Vardy, Laurence Savoie-Chabot

  Why prices change, and what it means for the economy.

  Content Type(s): Publications, The Economy, Plain and Simple Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credibility, Expectations, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission, Price stability

• The Welfare Cost of Inflation Revisited: The Role of Financial Innovation and Household Heterogeneity

  Staff Working Paper 2018-40 Shutao Cao, Césaire Meh, José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, Yaz Terajima

  We document that, across households, the money consumption ratio increases with age and decreases with consumption, and that there has been a large increase in the money consumption ratio during the recent era of very low interest rates. We construct an overlapping generations (OLG) model of money holdings for transaction purposes subject to age (older households use more money), cohort (younger generations are exposed to better transaction technology), and time effects (nominal interest rates affect money holdings).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E4, E41
• November 1, 2016

  25 Years of Inflation Targets: Certainty for Uncertain Times

  Remarks Stephen S. Poloz Business Council of British Columbia Vancouver, British Columbia

  Governor Stephen S. Poloz discusses the renewal of Canada’s inflation-targeting agreement and how it continues to help the economy.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Central bank research, Credibility, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary aggregates, Monetary policy framework

• The Optimal Level of the Inflation Target: A Selective Review of the Literature and Outstanding Issues

  Staff Discussion Paper 2015-8 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Rhys R. Mendes

  Bank of Canada research done prior to the most recent renewal of the inflation-control agreement in 2011 concluded that the benefits associated with a target below 2 per cent were insufficient to justify the increased risk of being constrained by the zero lower bound (ZLB) on nominal interest rates.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58

• Inflation and Growth: A New Keynesian Perspective

  Staff Working Paper 2012-23 Robert Amano, Thomas J. Carter, Kevin Moran

  The long-run relation between growth and inflation has not yet been studied in the context of nominal price and wage rigidities, despite the fact that these rigidities now figure prominently in workhorse macroeconomic models.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, O, O3, O31, O4, O42

• Money and Costly Credit

  Staff Working Paper 2011-7 Mei Dong

  I study an economy in which money and credit coexist as means of payment and the settlement of credit requires money. The model extends recent developments in microfounded monetary theory to address the choice of payment methods and the effects of inflation. Whether a buyer uses money or credit depends on the fixed cost of credit and the inflation rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E5, E50

• Inflation and Unemployment in Competitive Search Equilibrium

  Staff Working Paper 2010-15 Mei Dong

  Using a monetary search model, Rocheteau, Rupert and Wright (2007) show that the relationship between inflation and unemployment can be positive or negative depending on the primitives of the model. The key features are indivisible labor, nonseparable preferences and bargaining.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E13, E4, E40, E5, E52

• Alternative Optimized Monetary Policy Rules in Multi-Sector Small Open Economies: The Role of Real Rigidities

  Staff Working Paper 2010-9 Carlos De Resende, Ali Dib, Maral Kichian

  Inflation-targeting central banks around the world often state their inflation objectives with regard to the consumer price index (CPI). Yet the literature on optimal monetary policy based on models with nominal rigidities and more than one sector suggests that CPI inflation is not always the best choice from a social welfare perspective.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5, E52, F, F3, F4