Posts

• August 21, 2003

  Dollarization in Canada: An Update

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003 John Murray, James Powell, Louis-Robert Lafleur

  The authors describe a special survey of the payment and financial-reporting practices of Canadian firms conducted by the Bank of Canada's regional offices to determine if the U.S. dollar has started to displace the Canadian dollar as a preferred unit of account. A cross-section of firms was asked what currency (or currencies) they used: (i) for quoting sales to Canadian customers, (ii) for quoting prices to foreigners, (iii) for reporting their financial results, and (iv) for quoting salaries and wages. The survey results reported here extend some earlier results reported in a previous Review article by Murray and Powell. The data indicate that, despite the dominance of the U.S. dollar in world trade and as an international standard of value, use of the U.S. dollar in Canada is very limited. The vast majority of Canadian firms price their products and keep their financial statements in Canadian dollars, and very few workers in Canada have their salaries paid in a foreign currency. The Canadian dollar is still strongly preferred for most pricing and financial-reporting activities in Canada, and there is very little evidence of "dollarization."

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rate regimes
• August 7, 2003

  Economic Integration in North America

  Remarks David Dodge Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs Geneva Park, Ontario

  For more than 70 years now, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs has been bringing Canadians together with the purpose of asking some thought-provoking questions and encouraging lively, stimulating debates and action on a variety of key public policy issues.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks

• Forecasting and Analyzing World Commodity Prices

  Staff Working Paper 2003-24 René Lalonde, Zhenhua Zhu, Frédérick Demers

  The authors develop simple econometric models to analyze and forecast two components of the Bank of Canada commodity price index: the Bank of Canada non-energy (BCNE) commodity prices and the West Texas Intermediate crude oil price. They present different methodologies to identify transitory and permanent components of movements in these prices.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C5

• What Does the Risk-Appetite Index Measure?

  Staff Working Paper 2003-23 Miroslav Misina

  Explanations of changes in asset prices as being due to exogenous changes in risk appetite, although arguably controversial, have been popular in the financial community and have also received some attention in attempts to account for recent financial crises. Operational versions of these explanations are based on the assumption that changes in asset prices can be decomposed into a part that can be attributed to changes in riskiness and a part attributable to changes in risk aversion, and that some quantitative measure can capture these effects in isolation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12

• The Construction of Continuity-Adjusted Monetary Aggregate Components

  Staff Working Paper 2003-22 Jeannie Kottaras

  Changes in the financial industry result in new data that are inconsistent with the former presentation, and therefore adjustments are required to "adjust" or smooth out these breaks to establish continuity.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary aggregates JEL Code(s): E, E5, E51
• July 24, 2003

  Bank of Canada releases 2004 schedule of dates for its policy interest rate announcements

  Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario

  The Bank of Canada today released its 2004 schedule of eight dates for announcing decisions on its key policy interest rate, and confirmed the announcement dates for the remainder of this year.

  Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
• July 17, 2003

  Bank of Canada releases Monetary Policy Report Update

  Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario

  The Bank of Canada today released its Update to the April Monetary Policy Report.

  Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
• July 17, 2003

  Monetary Policy Report Update – July 2003

  Since the April Monetary Policy Report, there have been a number of unanticipated developments that have changed the outlook for inflation and economic activity in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Monetary Policy Report
• July 17, 2003

  Release of the Monetary Policy Report Update

  Opening statement David Dodge

  Today, we released our Update to the April Monetary Policy Report. The Update reviews economic and financial trends in the context of Canada's inflation-control strategy.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements
• July 15, 2003

  Bank of Canada lowers target for the overnight rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3 per cent

  Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario

  The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 3 per cent.

  Content Type(s): Press, Press releases