D - Microeconomics

• The Sale of Durable Goods by a Monopolist in a Stochastic Environment

  Staff Working Paper 1998-18 Gabriel Srour

  This paper examines the sale of durable goods by a monopolist in a stochastic partil equilibrium setting. It analyzes the responses of prices and output to various types of shocks and notes the differences with non-durable goods and competitive markets. It shows that behavior in this model with constant marginal costs of production is in […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4

• Consumer Attitudes, Uncertainty, and Consumer Spending

  Staff Working Paper 1998-16 Denise Côté, Marianne Johnson

  This study examines the link between consumer expenditures and the Conference Board's Index of Consumer Attitudes, an index highly regarded for some time as a useful leading indicator of consumer expenditures. However, the theory that identifies why it may be useful in an analysis of consumption is less well established. To explore this question, we […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E2

• Measurement of the Output Gap: A Discussion of Recent Research at the Bank of Canada

  Technical Report No. 79 Pierre St-Amant, Simon van Norden

  In this paper, we discuss some methodologies for estimating potential output and the output gap that have recently been studied at the Bank of Canada. The assumptions and econometric techniques used by the different methodologies are discussed in turn, and applications to Canadian data are presented.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Potential output JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24

• Wealth, Disposable Income and Consumption: Some Evidence for Canada

  Technical Report No. 71 Tiff Macklem

  The author develops a measure of aggregate private sector wealth in Canada and examines its ability to explain aggregate consumption of non-durables and services. This wealth measure includes financial, physical and human wealth. The author measures human wealth as the expected present value of aggregate labour income, net of government expenditures, based on a discrete […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Domestic demand and components JEL Code(s): D, D9, D91, E, E2, E21

• The Slowdown in Productivity Growth in the 1975-83 Period: A Survey of Possible Explanations

  Technical Report No. 43 Gerald Stuber

  The growth rates of both aggregate factor and labour productivity in Canada fell substantially during the period 1975-83. This paper examines this phenomenon and reviews a number of possible explanations for it. First, the productivity growth slowdown is examined at various levels of industry disaggregation. It is apparent from this analysis that the slowdown varied […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24