Publications

• June 18, 2008

  House Prices and Consumer Spending

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Kimberly Beaton, Sylvie Morin, Ilan Kolet

  Flood, Morin, and Kolet examine the role of house prices in household consumption decisions. Considering a group of advanced economies, the authors find that the strength of the link between house prices and consumer spending depends on the institutional features of national mortgage markets.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments
• June 17, 2008

  A Tool for Assessing Financial Vulnerabilities in the Household Sector

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Shubhasis Dey, Ramdane Djoudad, Yaz Terajima

  In this article, the authors build on the framework used in the Bank of Canada's Financial System Review to assess the evolution of household indebtedness and financial vulnerabilities in response to changing economic conditions. To achieve this, they first compare two microdata sets generated by Ipsos Reid's Canadian Financial Monitor and Statistics Canada's Survey of Financial Security. They find that the surveys are broadly comparable, despite methodological differences. This enables them to use the combined information content for the identification of the threshold value of the debt-service ratio (DSR). The article then presents an innovative framework that uses household-level microdata to simulate changes in the distribution of the DSR under various stress scenarios. The authors show how this framework can be used by analyzing the effects of two different scenarios on the distribution of the debt-service ratio and the impact on vulnerable households. This tool will enable researchers to refine their analyses of current risks to the financial health of Canadian households. The article concludes with comments on future directions for refining the Bank's analyses of household sector risk.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models, Financial stability
• June 16, 2008

  A Money and Credit Real-Time Database for Canada

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Roobina Keshishbanoosy, Pierre St-Amant, Devin Ball, Ivan Medovikov

  Model-based forecasts of important economic variables are part of the range of information considered for monetary policy decision making.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Monetary aggregates, Monetary policy and uncertainty
• June 15, 2008

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008

  

  Cover page

  Chinese Coin Charms

  The charms on the cover are part of the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada.

  Photography by Gord Carter.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review