Central bank research

• November 11, 2008

  The Market Impact of Forward-Looking Policy Statements: Transparency vs. Predictability

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Christine Fay, Toni Gravelle

  Central banks continuously strive to improve how they communicate to financial markets and the public in order to increase transparency. For this reason, many central banks have begun to include guidance on the policy rate in the form of forward-looking statements in their communications. This article examines the debate over the usefulness of providing such statements from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. The evidence presented here suggests that the use of forward-looking statements in Bank of Canada communications has made the Bank more predictable, but not necessarily more transparent.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Interest rates, Monetary policy transmission
• November 11, 2008

  Conference Summary: International Experience with the Conduct of Monetary Policy under Inflation Targeting

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Philipp Maier

  Central bankers from inflation-targeting and non-inflation-targeting countries around the world and several distinguished scholars assembled at the Bank of Canada in July 2008 to review the international experience in some detail. This article highlights topics covered in the special lectures and sessions, including how inflation targeting can manage external shocks, various ways in which monetary policy decisions are taken, and the issues of transparency and communications. It also reports on the discussion in the closing panel, which considered options for the future of inflation targeting.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework
• March 18, 2008

  Canada's Experience with a Flexible Exchange Rate in the 1950s: Valuable Lessons Learned

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2008 Lawrence L. Schembri

  Schembri studies Canada's post-World War II experience in introducing a floating exchange rate, including its effects on the Canadian economy and its influence on the development of macroeconomic theory. In particular, Canada's flexible exchange rate and high degree of capital mobility with the United States provided an unprecedented experiment for macroeconomic policy. The successes and difficulties encountered by Canadian authorities in managing monetary and fiscal policy under this regime drew the interest of researchers at the International Monetary Fund and elsewhere and had a significant impact on the development of the Mundell-Fleming model, the path-breaking innovation in modern open-economy macroeconomics.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Exchange rate regimes, Monetary policy framework