Central bank research

• November 11, 2009

  Making Bank Notes Accessible for Canadians Living with Blindness or Low Vision

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2009-2010 Carolyn Samuel

  The ability to conduct financial transactions using bank notes is crucial to independent living. Yet this can pose significant challenges for individuals who are blind or partially sighted. This article discusses the Bank of Canada's efforts over the past 30 years to meet the accessibility needs of a specific subset of the population–Canadians living with blindness or vision loss. It also reports the findings of expert and user assessments of the suite of accessibility features on the current series of bank notes and shares plans for the next series.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Bank notes, Central bank research

• Testing for Financial Contagion with Applications to the Canadian Banking System

  Staff Working Paper 2009-14 Fuchun Li

  The author proposes a new test for financial contagion based on a non-parametric measure of the cross-market correlation. The test does not depend on the assumption that the data are drawn from a given probability distribution; therefore, it allows for maximal flexibility in fitting into the data.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, G, G0, G01, G1, G15
• April 9, 2009

  Next Steps for Canadian Monetary Policy

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2009 Robert Amano, Thomas J. Carter, Donald Coletti

  In 2006, the Bank initiated a research program exploring two alternatives to the current inflation-targeting framework: (i) lowering the inflation target and (ii) shifting to a price-level target. This article discusses progress to date, places the Bank's findings in the context of a broader literature, and identifies avenues for future research.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Economic models, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework
• April 5, 2009

  Unexpected Inflation and Redistribution of Wealth in Canada

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2009 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima

  One of the most important arguments in favour of price stability is that unexpected inflation generates changes in the distribution of income and wealth among different economic agents. These redistributions occur because many loans are specified in fixed dollar terms and unexpected inflation redistributes wealth from creditors to debtors by reducing the real value of nominal assets and liabilities.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Inflation and prices, Inflation: costs and benefits, Sectoral balance sheet

• Computing the Accuracy of Complex Non-Random Sampling Methods: The Case of the Bank of Canada's Business Outlook Survey

  Staff Working Paper 2009-10 Daniel de Munnik, David Dupuis, Mark Illing

  A number of central banks publish their own business conditions survey based on non-random sampling methods. The results of these surveys influence monetary policy decisions and thus affect expectations in financial markets. To date, however, no one has computed the statistical accuracy of these surveys because their respective non-random sampling method renders this assessment non-trivial.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Econometric and statistical methods, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): C, C4, C8, C81, C9, C90