Posts
-
-
2017 Methods-of-Payment Survey: Sample Calibration and Variance Estimation
This technical report describes sampling, weighting and variance estimation for the Bank of Canada’s 2017 Methods-of-Payment Survey. Under quota sampling, a raking ratio method is implemented to generate weights with both post-stratification and nonparametric nonresponse weight adjustments. -
2017 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report
Cash use is declining while contactless and mobile payments are on the rise. -
Should the Central Bank Issue E-money?
Should a central bank take over the provision of e-money, a circulable electronic liability? We discuss how e-money technology changes the tradeoff between public and private provision, and the tradeoff between e-money and a central bank's existing liabilities like bank notes and reserves. -
The Cost of the Government Bond Buyback and Switch Programs in Canada
This note examines the costs of the Government of Canada bond buyback and switch programs between 1998 and 2016. Our analysis indicates that the auction design of the buyback program was effective in retiring government debt with minimal costs resulting from bid shading in auctions and price impact. -
Fundamental Drivers of Existing Home Sales in Canada
Existing home sales’ share of Canada’s economic pie has been rising in recent years, and variation around this trend has resulted in outsized contributions to changes in real gross domestic product (GDP). In this context, we use a cointegration framework to estimate the level of resale activity across the Canadian provinces that is supported by fundamentals—namely, full-time employment, housing affordability and migration flows—to help look through the volatility. -
Alternative Futures for Government of Canada Debt Management
This paper presents four blue-sky ideas for lowering the cost of the Government of Canada’s debt without increasing the debt’s risk profile. We argue that each idea would improve the secondary-market liquidity of government debt, thereby increasing the demand for government bonds and thus lowering their cost at issuance. -
GDP by Industry in Real Time: Are Revisions Well Behaved?
The monthly data for real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry are used extensively in real time both to ground the Bank of Canada’s monitoring of economic activity and in the Bank’s nowcasting tools, making these data one of the most important high-frequency time series for Canadian nowcasting. -
December 6, 2018
Year-End Economic Progress Report: Financial Vulnerabilities in Focus
Governor Poloz talks about how household debt levels and housing markets played a role in the latest interest-rate decision. -
December 6, 2018
Governor Poloz speaks on financial vulnerabilities and risks to the economy
In his final speech of 2018, Governor Stephen S. Poloz discusses the vulnerabilities and risks in Canada’s financial system as well as Canadian and global economic developments. He explains how all this was taken into account in the December interest rate decision.