L - Industrial Organization

• Addictive Platforms

  Staff Working Paper 2022-16 Shota Ichihashi, Byung-Cheol Kim

  We study competition for consumer attention, in which platforms can sacrifice service quality for attention. A platform can choose the “addictiveness” of its service.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D4, D40, L, L5, L51

• Equilibrium in Two-Sided Markets for Payments: Consumer Awareness and the Welfare Cost of the Interchange Fee

  Staff Working Paper 2022-15 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Oleksandr Shcherbakov

  We construct and estimate a structural two-stage model of equilibrium in a market for payments in order to quantify the network externalities and identify the main determinants of consumer and merchant decisions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, D, D1, D12, E, E4, E42, L, L1, L14

• Vertical Bargaining and Obfuscation

  Staff Working Paper 2022-13 Edona Reshidi

  Is obscuring prices always bad for consumers? The answer depends on the market structure and on the negotiating power between manufacturers and retailers.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C7, C70, L, L1, L13, L4, L42

• Central Bank Liquidity Facilities and Market Making

  Staff Working Paper 2022-9 David Cimon, Adrian Walton

  We create a theoretical model of central bank asset purchases. The model helps explain how, in a crisis, these purchases ease pressures on investment dealers.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G2, G20, L, L1, L10

• Rising US LNG Exports and Global Natural Gas Price Convergence

  Staff Discussion Paper 2021-14 Robert Ialenti

  We assess how rising exports of US liquefied natural gas affect the convergence of natural gas prices worldwide. Our results may have implications for the development of future LNG export capacity in Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): International topics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, F, F1, F15, K, K4, K41, L, L9, L95

• Measuring the Effectiveness of Salespeople: Evidence from a Cold-Drink Market

  Staff Working Paper 2021-40 Haofeng Jin, Zhentong Lu

  Salespeople are widely employed in many industries. We leverage a unique data set on retail sales from a leading Chinese cold-drink manufacturer and information on the firm’s salespeople assignment rule to measure the causal effect of salespeople on product revenue.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Service sector JEL Code(s): L, L8, L81, M, M3, M5

• Centralizing Over-the-Counter Markets?

  Staff Working Paper 2021-39 Jason Allen, Milena Wittwer

  Would a shift in trading in fixed-income markets—from over the counter (bilateral trading) to a centralized electronic platform—improve welfare? We use trade-level data on the secondary market for Government of Canada debt to answer this question.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D40, D47, G, G1, G10, G2, G20, L, L1, L10

• The Positive Case for a CBDC

  Staff Discussion Paper 2021-11 Andrew Usher, Edona Reshidi, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Scott Hendry

  We discuss the competition and innovation arguments for issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). A CBDC could be an effective competition policy tool for payments. A CBDC could also support the vibrancy of the digital economy. It could help solve market failures and foster competition and innovation in new digital payments markets.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial stability JEL Code(s): E, E4, E42, E5, E58, L, L4, L5

• The Effects of Government Licensing on E-commerce: Evidence from Alibaba

  Staff Working Paper 2021-32 Ginger Zhe Jin, Zhentong Lu, Xiaolu Zhou, Chunxiao Li

  How does government licensing affect selling on online platforms? We examine the impact of China’s 2015 Food Safety Law on sellers and buyers on Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in that country.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Market structure and pricing, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, K, K2, K23, L, L5, L8, L81

• Overlooking the online world: Does mismeasurement of the digital economy explain the productivity slowdown?

  Staff Analytical Note 2021-10 Alejandra Bellatin, Stephanie Houle

  Since the mid-2000s, labour productivity has slowed down in Canada despite enormous technological advances that were expected to improve it. This note investigates whether mismeasurement of the digital economy can explain this paradox.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E0, E01, L, L8, L86, O, O3, O33, O4, O5, O51