E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

• Introducing a Systematic Measure of Idiosyncratic Prices

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-33 Madigan Dockrill, Laurence Savoie-Chabot

  There is a risk that Bank of Canada staff may inadvertently be biased when analyzing inflation: when inflation surprises on the downside, staff might emphasize negative idiosyncratic factors. When inflation surprises on the upside, staff might emphasize the positive idiosyncratic factors.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31

• Is a Cashless Society Problematic?

  Staff Discussion Paper 2018-12 Walter Engert, Ben Fung, Scott Hendry

  The use of bank notes in Canada for payments has declined consistently for some time, and similar trends are evident in other countries. This has led some observers to predict a cashless society in the future.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5

• Disaggregating Household Sensitivity to Monetary Policy by Expenditure Category

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-32 Tony Chernis, Corinne Luu

  Because the Bank of Canada has started withdrawing monetary stimulus, monitoring the transmission of these changes to monetary policy will be important. Subcomponents of consumption and housing will likely respond differently to a monetary policy tightening, both in terms of the aggregate effect and timing.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Domestic demand and components, Econometric and statistical methods, Housing, Interest rates, Monetary policy transmission, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, E, E2, E21, E22, E4, E43, E47, E5, E52

• Monetary Policy Uncertainty: A Tale of Two Tails

  Staff Working Paper 2018-50 Tatjana Dahlhaus, Tatevik Sekhposyan

  We document a strong asymmetry in the evolution of federal funds rate expectations and map this observed asymmetry into measures of monetary policy uncertainty. We show that periods of monetary policy tightening and easing are distinctly related to downside (policy rate is higher than expected) and upside (policy rate is lower than expected) uncertainty.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy communications, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): C, C1, C18, C3, C32, E, E0, E02, E4, E43, E5, E52

• Financial Development Beyond the Formal Financial Market

  Staff Working Paper 2018-49 Lin Shao

  This paper studies the effects of financial development, taking into account both formal and informal financing. Using cross-country firm-level data, we document that informal financing is utilized more by rich countries than poor countries.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Firm dynamics, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, O, O1, O17, O4, O47

• How Long Does It Take You to Pay? A Duration Study of Canadian Retail Transaction Payment Times

  Staff Working Paper 2018-46 Geneviève Vallée

  Using an exclusive data set of payment times for retail transactions made in Canada, I show that cash is the most time-efficient method of payment (MOP) when compared with payments by debit and credit cards. I model payment efficiency using Cox proportional hazard models, accounting for consumer choice of MOP.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): C, C2, C25, C3, C36, C4, C41, D, D2, D23, E, E4, E41, E42

• Price Selection

  Staff Working Paper 2018-44 Carlos Carvalho, Oleksiy Kryvtsov

  We propose a simple, model-free way to measure selection in price setting and its contribution to inflation dynamics. The proposed measure of price selection is based on the observed comovement between inflation and the average level from which adjusting prices depart.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E51

• Weakness in Non-Commodity Exports: Demand versus Supply Factors

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-28 José Dorich, Vadym Lepetyuk, Jonathan Swarbrick

  We use the Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM) to conduct demand- and supply-driven simulations, both of which deliver weakness in Canadian non-commodity exports relative to foreign activity in line with recent data.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): International topics, Monetary policy, Recent economic and financial developments, Trade integration JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, F, F1, F10, F14, F17

• Characterizing Canada’s Export Sector by Industry: A Supply-Side Perspective

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-27 Taylor Webley

  This note examines supply-side trends in Canadian non-energy industries and their implications for export performance. Between 2002 and 2016, capital stocks and total labour input declined in many industries that export non-energy goods. These soft trends in the factors of production have likely contributed to the decline in non-energy exports in about half of the goods industries analyzed in this note.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): International topics, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, E23, E24, F, F1, F19

• What Is Restraining Non-Energy Export Growth?

  Staff Analytical Note 2018-25 Dany Brouillette, José Dorich, Chris D'Souza, Adrienne Gagnon, Claudia Godbout

  This note summarizes the key findings from Bank of Canada staff analytical work examining the reasons for the recent weakness in Canadian non-energy exports. Canada steadily lost market share in US non-energy imports between 2002 and 2017, mostly reflecting continued and broad-based competitiveness losses.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): International topics, Monetary policy, Recent economic and financial developments, Trade integration JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, F, F1, F10, F14, F17