Staff research

• Comparison of Auction Formats in Canadian Government Auctions

  Staff Working Paper 2009-5 Olivier Armantier, Nourredine Lafhel

  Using a rich sample of Canadian government securities auctions, we estimate the structural parameters of a share-auction model accounting for asymmetries across bidders. We find little evidence of asymmetries between participants at Canadian government nominal bond auctions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44, D6, D63, G, G2, G28

• What Accounts for the U.S.-Canada Education-Premium Difference?

  Staff Working Paper 2009-4 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Alexander Ueberfeldt

  This paper analyzes the differences in wage ratios of university graduates to less than university graduates, the education premium, in Canada and the United States from 1980 to 2000. Both countries experienced a similar increase in the fraction of university graduates and a similar increase in skill biased technological change based on capital-embodied technological progress, but only the United States had a large increase in the education premium.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E25, J, J2, J24, J3, J31

• Uninsurable Investment Risks and Capital Income Taxation

  Staff Working Paper 2009-3 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima

  This paper studies the capital accumulation and welfare implications of reducing capital income taxation in a general equilibrium economy with uninsurable investment risks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E22, E6, E62, G, G3, G32, H, H2, H24, H25

• Monetary Policy Lag, Zero Lower Bound, and Inflation Targeting

  Staff Working Paper 2009-2 Shin-Ichi Nishiyama

  Although the concept of monetary policy lag has historical roots deep in the monetary economics literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the idea. In this paper, we build on Svensson's (1997) inflation targeting framework by explicitly taking into account the lagged effect of monetary policy and characterize the optimal monetary policy reaction function both in the absence and in the presence of the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, E, E5, E52, E58

• The Impact of Market Timing on Canadian and U.S. Firms' Capital Structure

  Staff Working Paper 2009-1 Zhaoxia Xu

  This paper studies the impact of market timing on Canadian firms' capital structure and makes a comparison with U.S. firms.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32

• Financial Intermediation, Liquidity and Inflation

  Staff Working Paper 2008-49 Jonathan Chiu, Césaire Meh

  This paper develops a search-theoretic model to study the interaction between banking and monetary policy and how this interaction affects the allocation and welfare. Regarding how banking affects the welfare costs of inflation: First, we find that, with banking, inflation generates smaller welfare costs.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E5, E50

• India and the Global Demand for Commodities: Is There an Elephant in the Room?

  Staff Discussion Paper 2008-18 Michael Francis, Corinne Luu

  After 10 years of impressive growth, India is now the fourth largest economy in the world. Yet, to date, India's impact on global commodity markets has been muted. The authors examine how India's domestic and trade policies have distorted and constrained its demand for commodities.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Development economics, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F1, F14, O, O1, O13, O5, O53

• 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

• Indebtedness and the Household Financial Health: An Examination of the Canadian Debt Service Ratio Distribution

  Staff Working Paper 2008-46 Umar Faruqui

  The household debt-to-disposable income ratio in Canada increased from 110 per cent in 1999 to 127 per cent in 2007. This increase has raised questions about the ability of households to service their increased debt if faced with a negative economic or socio-economic shock.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial stability, Monetary and financial indicators JEL Code(s): D, D1, D11, D14, D3, D39