G - Financial Economics

• Futures Markets, Oil Prices and the Intertemporal Approach to the Current Account

  Staff Working Paper 2008-48 Elif Arbatli

  The intertemporal approach to the current account suggests modeling movements in the current account in a forward-looking, dynamic framework. In this framework, the current account reflects consumption smoothing of agents that lend and borrow from the rest of the world in the face of transitory shocks to income.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Balance of payments and components JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, F, F2, F21, F3, F32, G, G1, G13

• How Important Is Liquidity Risk for Sovereign Bond Risk Premia? Evidence from the London Stock Exchange

  Staff Working Paper 2008-47 Ron Alquist

  This paper uses the framework of arbitrage-pricing theory to study the relationship between liquidity risk and sovereign bond risk premia. The London Stock Exchange in the late 19th century is an ideal laboratory in which to test the proposition that liquidity risk affects the price of sovereign debt.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F2, F21, F3, F34, F36, G, G1, G12, G15

• A Survey and Risk Analysis of Selected Non-Bank Retail Payments Systems

  Staff Discussion Paper 2008-17 Nikil Chande

  Payment services offered by non-banks have flourished in recent years. The author provides an overview of the different kinds of non-bank retail payments schemes currently available in Canada, illustrating each by focusing on a specific example.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, G, G2, G20

• The Role of Foreign Exchange Dealers in Providing Overnight Liquidity

  Staff Working Paper 2008-44 Chris D'Souza

  This paper illustrates that dealers in foreign exchange markets not only provide intraday liquidity, they are key participants in the provision of overnight liquidity. Dealing institutions receive compensation for holding undesired inventory balances in part from the information they receive in customer trades.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, F, F3, F31, G, G2, G21

• McCallum Rules, Exchange Rates, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

  Staff Working Paper 2008-43 Antonio Diez de los Rios

  McCallum (1994a) proposes a monetary rule where policymakers have some tendency to resist rapid changes in exchange rates to explain the forward premium puzzle.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Interest rates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, F, F3, F31, G, G1, G12, G15

• Which Bank is the "Central" Bank? An Application of Markov Theory to the Canadian Large Value Transfer System

  Staff Working Paper 2008-42 Morten Bech, James Chapman, Rodney J. Garratt

  We use a method similar to Google's PageRank procedure to rank banks in the Canadian Large Value Transfer System (LVTS). Along the way we obtain estimates of the payment processing speeds for the individual banks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, E, E5, E50, G, G2, G20

• Financial Constraints and the Cash-Holding Behaviour of Canadian Firms

  Staff Discussion Paper 2008-16 Darcey McVanel, Nikita Perevalov

  The proportion of assets held by the average Canadian firm in the form of cash has increased steadily since the early 1990s, and is now roughly twice as large as in 1990. The literature has established that the cash-holding behaviour of firms is highly correlated with financial constraints and firm characteristics.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): G, G1, G11, G3, G32

• Are There Canada-U.S. Differences in SME Financing?

  Staff Working Paper 2008-41 Danny Leung, Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima

  Previous surveys of Canadian and U.S. business owners suggest that access to financing in Canada may be more problematic than in the United States. Using the 2003 Survey of Small Business Financing in the United States and the 2004 Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises in Canada, this paper examines whether this perception can be better quantified.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C2, C21, G, G2, G21

• The Role of Bank Capital in the Propagation of Shocks

  Staff Working Paper 2008-36 Césaire Meh, Kevin Moran

  Recent events in financial markets have underlined the importance of analyzing the link between the financial health of banks and real economic activity. This paper contributes to this analysis by constructing a dynamic general equilibrium model in which the balance sheet of banks affects the propagation of shocks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial system regulation and policies, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E5, E52, G, G2, G21

• The Impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds on International Financial Stability

  Staff Discussion Paper 2008-14 Tamara Gomes

  Over the recent period, many emerging-market economies and commodity-exporting nations have experienced unprecedented growth and accumulated substantial amounts of foreign exchange reserves. The management of these foreign reserves has led to the emergence of important financial actors: sovereign wealth funds (SWFs).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial stability, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): F, F2, F21, F3, F31, F32, G, G1, G15