Staff research

• BoC–BoE Sovereign Default Database: Methodology, Assumptions and Sources

  Technical Report No. 117 David Beers, Elliot Jones, John Walsh

  Until recently, few efforts have been made to systematically measure and aggregate the nominal value of the different types of sovereign government debt in default. To help fill this gap, the Bank of Canada (BoC) developed a comprehensive database of sovereign defaults that is posted on its website and updated in partnership with the Bank of England (BoE).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Debt management, Development economics, Financial institutions, International financial markets JEL Code(s): F, F3, F34, G, G1, G10, G14, G15
• June 30, 2020

  Research Update - June 2020

  This monthly newsletter features the latest research publications by Bank of Canada economists including external publications and working papers published on the Bank of Canada’s website.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Research newsletters

• CBDC adoption and usage: some insights from field and laboratory experiments

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-12 Janet Hua Jiang

  This note discusses insights from historical launches of new payment methods and related laboratory experiments on the potential adoption and use of a central bank digital currency in the Canadian context.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): C, C9, E, E4, E5, E58

• Security of a CBDC

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-11 Cyrus Minwalla

  Security is an important element in ensuring public confidence in a central bank digital currency (CBDC). This note highlights the required security properties of a CBDC system and the challenges encountered with existing solutions, should the Bank of Canada choose to issue one.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, O, O3, O31

• Designing a CBDC for universal access

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-10 John Miedema, Cyrus Minwalla, Martine Warren, Dinesh Shah

  If the Bank of Canada issues a central bank digital currency, the technology should be designed for universal access.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, O, O3, O31

• Privacy in CBDC technology

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-9 Sriram Darbha, Rakesh Arora

  Privacy is a key aspect of a potential central bank digital currency system. We outline different technical choices to enact various privacy models while complying with the appropriate regulations. We develop a framework to evaluate privacy models and list key risks and trade-offs in privacy design.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Central bank research, Digital currencies and fintech JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E51, O, O3

• Monetary Policy Independence and the Strength of the Global Financial Cycle

  Staff Working Paper 2020-25 Christian Friedrich, Pierre Guérin, Danilo Leiva-Leon

  We propose a new strength measure of the global financial cycle by estimating a regime-switching factor model on cross-border equity flows for 61 countries. We then assess how the strength of the global financial cycle affects monetary policy independence, which is defined as the response of central banks' policy interest rates to exogenous changes in inflation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Exchange rate regimes, Financial system regulation and policies, International financial markets, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5, F, F3, F32, F4, F42, G, G1, G15, G18

• An Economic Perspective on Payments Migration

  Staff Working Paper 2020-24 Anneke Kosse, Zhentong Lu, Gabriel Xerri

  Consumers, businesses and banks make millions of payments each day using a variety of instruments, such as debit cards, cheques and wires. Canada is currently developing three new systems to process these transactions: Lynx, Settlement Optimization Engine (SOE) and Real-Time Rail (RTR).

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial services, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, G, G2, G21

• Trading for Bailouts

  Staff Working Paper 2020-23 Toni Ahnert, Caio Machado, Ana Elisa Pereira

  In times of high uncertainty, governments often implement interventions such as bailouts to financial institutions. To use public resources efficiently and to avoid major spillovers to the rest of the economy, policy-makers try to identify which institutions should receive assistance.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Lender of last resort JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, G, G1, G12, G14, G18

• Dynamic Competition in Negotiated Price Markets

  Staff Working Paper 2020-22 Jason Allen, Shaoteng Li

  Repeated interactions between borrowers and lenders create the possibility of dynamic pricing: lenders compete aggressively with low prices to attract new borrowers and then raise their prices once borrowers have made a commitment. We find such pricing patterns in the Canadian mortgage market.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, G, G2, G21, L, L2