Bank of Canada Review Article

• November 17, 2016

  Structural Reforms and Economic Growth in Emerging-Market Economies

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Jeannine Bailliu, Christopher Hajzler

  Growth has slowed in many emerging-market economies (EMEs) since the 2007–09 global financial crisis, reflecting both cyclical and structural factors. In this context, it will be in-creasingly important for EMEs to raise potential growth by maintaining steady progress on structural reforms. How do structural reforms generally support growth? What are the re-form priorities for EMEs over recent history and today? Finally, what will be the impact of planned structural reforms on potential output growth among the world’s larger EMEs? These are some of the questions considered by the authors.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Development economics, International topics, Potential output JEL Code(s): E, E0, E02, E6, E61, E65, O, O1, O11, O4, O41
• November 17, 2016

  Commodity Price Supercycles: What Are They and What Lies Ahead?

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Bahattin Buyuksahin, Kun Mo, Konrad Zmitrowicz

  Because commodity prices help determine Canada’s terms of trade, employment, income and, ultimately, inflation, it is important to understand what causes them to fluctuate. Since the early 1900s, there have been four commodity price supercycles—which we define as extended periods of boom and bust that can take decades to complete. Now in its downswing phase, the current supercycle started after growth in China and other emerging-market economies in the mid-1990s resulted in an unexpected demand shock. The extent of this downswing depends on numerous factors that are presently uncertain.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C1, Q, Q1, Q4, Q41
• November 17, 2016

  Recent Changes to the Bank of Canada’s Emergency Lending Assistance Policy

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Christopher Graham, Natasha Khan, Alexandra Lai

  Emergency Lending Assistance (ELA) is a discretionary last-resort collateralized loan or ad-vance by the Bank of Canada to eligible financial institutions (FIs) and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) facing serious liquidity problems. In December 2015, the Bank revised its ELA policy to (i) replace the requirement for an FI’s solvency with the requirement for a credible recovery and resolution framework; (ii) include mortgages as eligible collateral; and (iii) clarify both the eligibility requirements for FMIs and provincially regulated deposit-taking FIs.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Lender of last resort JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, G, G0, G01, G2
• November 17, 2016

  Market Operations and Liquidity Provision at the Bank of Canada

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Mark de Guzman

  The Bank of Canada’s framework for market operations and liquidity provision describes how and when central bank liquidity might be offered with regards to the implementation of monetary policy and for supporting the stability of the Canadian financial system. Market participants can therefore plan their transactions knowing that the Bank stands ready to help manage system liquidity to support its objectives for monetary policy and financial stability.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E52, E58, G, G0, G01
• November 17, 2016

  Reinventing the Role of Central Banks in Financial Stability

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2016 Domenico Lombardi, Lawrence L. Schembri

  Central banks contribute importantly to the promotion of financial stability given their sys-tem-wide macro-financial perspective and existing roles as lender of last resort and overseer of systemic payment systems. Since the global financial crisis, the financial system role of central banks has expanded to place more emphasis on the prevention of financial stress and crises. Central banks work with other responsible authorities to enhance financial system resilience and to assess and mitigate financial vulnerabilities and systemic risk.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Lender of last resort, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, E6, E61, G, G2, G28
• May 16, 2016

  Estimating Canada’s Effective Lower Bound

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2016 Jonathan Witmer, Jing Yang

  Recently, the Bank of Canada has estimated the effective lower bound (ELB) on its policy interest rate to be about -50 basis points. This article outlines the analysis that underpins that estimate by quantifying the costs of storing and using cash in Canada. It also explores how some international markets have adapted to negative interest rates, issues surrounding their implementation, as well as their transmission to other interest rates in the economy. Finally, it discusses theoretical ideas on how the ELB could be reduced further.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D5, D53, E, E4, E43, E5, E52, E58
• May 16, 2016

  The Micro and Macro of Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2016 Robert Amano, Dany Brouillette, Stefano Gnocchi, Natalia Kyui

  The article examines the extent of downward nominal wage rigidity in Canada and its implications for monetary policy. The authors ask whether its existence is a sufficient argument for a higher inflation target if concerns about the effective lower bound are adequately addressed.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Labour markets, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E4, E5, J, J2, J23, J3, J30
• May 16, 2016

  A New Era of Central Banking: Unconventional Monetary Policies

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2016 Eric Santor, Lena Suchanek

  Central banks can implement unconventional monetary policy measures to provide additional easing when policy interest rates come close to their lower limit. To date, the international experience with tools such as quantitative easing and negative interest rates has been largely positive. Central banks may also use several such measures simultaneously, with often mutually reinforcing effects. Yet, unconventional tools are also subject to potential limits, and the costs associated with these measures could rise with extensive and prolonged use.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Interest rates, International topics, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E61, E65
• May 16, 2016

  Monetary Policy Frameworks: Recent International Developments

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2016 Robert Fay, Kristina Hess

  Inflation-targeting frameworks have remained relatively stable over the past few years despite significant challenges, including prolonged low inflation, a large negative commodity price shock and rising financial stability concerns in some economies. The tools used by central banks have, however, evolved substantially. This article provides a survey of the developments in the inflation-targeting frameworks of 10 central banks in advanced economies that correspond to the three research areas of the Bank of Canada’s 2016 renewal: the level of the inflation target, the measurement of core inflation and financial stability considerations in the formulation of monetary policy.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation targets, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58