D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

• November 22, 2022

  Tracking the financial vulnerabilities of households and the housing market

  The Bank of Canada is publishing a new set of indicators of financial vulnerabilities. This will allow households, the private sector, financial authorities and governments to better understand and monitor the evolution of two key vulnerabilities in the financial system: the elevated level of household indebtedness and high house prices.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Hub articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Housing, Monetary and financial indicators, Recent economic and financial developments, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, D8, D84, E, E5, G, G2, G21, R, R2, R21

• Behavioral Learning Equilibria in New Keynesian Models

  Staff Working Paper 2022-42 Cars Hommes, Kostas Mavromatis, Tolga Özden, Mei Zhu

  We introduce behavioral learning equilibria (BLE) into DSGE models with boundedly rational agents using simple but optimal first order autoregressive forecasting rules. The Smets-Wouters DSGE model with BLE is estimated and fits well with inflation survey expectations. As a policy application, we show that learning requires a lower degree of interest rate smoothing.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C1, C11, D, D8, D83, D84, E, E3, E6, E62

• PayTech and the D(ata) N(etwork) A(ctivities) of BigTech Platforms

  Staff Working Paper 2022-35 Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl

  Why do BigTech platforms introduce payment services? We explore this using a model in which a monopoly platform faces a trade-off between the costs associated with privacy concerns and the revenue from data services. We then analyze the feedback effects between data and payments.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D8, E, E4, E42, L, L1

• How Do People View Price and Wage Inflation?

  Staff Working Paper 2022-34 Monica Jain, Olena Kostyshyna, Xu Zhang

  This paper examines household-level data from the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations (CSCE) to understand households’ expectations about price and wage inflation, how those expectations link to views about labour market conditions and the subsequent impact on households’ outlook for real spending growth.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy communications JEL Code(s): C, C8, C83, D, D8, D84, E, E2, E21, E24, E3, E31

• A Horse Race of Monetary Policy Regimes: An Experimental Investigation

  Staff Working Paper 2022-33 Olena Kostyshyna, Luba Petersen, Jing Yang

  How should central banks design monetary policy in stable times and during recessions? We run a horse race between five monetary policy frameworks in an experimental laboratory to assess how well the different approaches can manage the public’s expectations and stabilize the economy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy, Monetary policy communications, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): C, C9, D, D8, D84, E, E5, E52, E58

• Cyber Risk and Security Investment

  Staff Working Paper 2022-32 Toni Ahnert, Michael Brolley, David Cimon, Ryan Riordan

  We develop a principal-agent model of cyber-attacking with fee-paying clients who delegate security decisions to financial platforms. We derive testable implications about clients’ vulnerability to cyber attacks and about the fees charged.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial services, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D7, D78, D8, D81, G, G1, G18, G2, G21, G23

• Dynamic Privacy Choices

  Staff Working Paper 2022-8 Shota Ichihashi

  Consumers often express concerns about lack of privacy, but they still give up a lot of data to digital platforms. This paper builds a dynamic game-theoretic model of data collection and privacy protection, which potentially explains consumers’ behaviour.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, D83

• The Financial Origins of Non-fundamental Risk

  Staff Working Paper 2022-4 Sushant Acharya, Keshav Dogra, Sanjay Singh

  We explore the idea that the financial sector can be a source of non-fundamental risk to the rest of the economy. We also consider whether policy can be used to reduce this risk—either by increasing the supply of publicly backed safe assets or by reducing the demand for safe assets.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Financial markets, Financial stability JEL Code(s): D, D5, D52, D8, D84, E, E6, E62, G, G1, G10, G12

• Firm Inattention and the Efficacy of Monetary Policy: A Text-Based Approach

  Staff Working Paper 2022-3 Wenting Song, Samuel Stern

  How much attention do firms pay to macroeconomic news? Through a novel text-based measure, two facts emerge. First, attention is polarized. Most firms either never or always pay attention to economic conditions. Second, it is countercyclical. During recessions, more firms pay attention, and firms pay greater attention to macroeconomic news.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E4, E44, E5, E52

• Bitcoin Adoption and Beliefs in Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2021-60 Daniela Balutel, Christopher Henry, Jorge Vásquez, Marcel Voia

  Using an economic model as well as survey data from the Bank of Canada, we study what factors influence the adoption of Bitcoin in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, O, O3, O33