Staff research, Publications
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Adopting Price-Level Targeting under Imperfect Credibility in ToTEM
Using the Bank of Canada's main projection and policy-analysis model, ToTEM, this paper measures the welfare gains of switching from inflation targeting to price-level targeting under imperfect credibility. Following the policy change, private agents assign a probability to the event that the policy-maker will revert to inflation-targeting next period. -
Real Effects of Price Stability with Endogenous Nominal Indexation
We study a model with repeated moral hazard where financial contracts are not fully indexed to inflation because nominal prices are observed with delay as in Jovanovic & Ueda (1997). -
Heterogeneous Beliefs and Housing-Market Boom-Bust Cycles in a Small Open Economy
This paper introduces heterogeneous beliefs among households in a small open economy model for the Canadian economy. The model suggests that simultaneous boom-bust cycles in house prices, output, investment, consumption and hours worked emerge when credit-constrained mortgage borrowers expect that future house prices will rise and this expectation is neither shared by savers nor realized ex-post. -
Testing for Financial Contagion with Applications to the Canadian Banking System
The author proposes a new test for financial contagion based on a non-parametric measure of the cross-market correlation. The test does not depend on the assumption that the data are drawn from a given probability distribution; therefore, it allows for maximal flexibility in fitting into the data. -
April 25, 2009
Senior Loan Officer Survey - First-Quarter 2009
Survey respondents reported continued tightening in lending conditions. Respondents attributed the ongoing tightening to concerns about the economic outlook and to industry-specific factors. -
April 22, 2009
Monetary Policy Report – April 2009
In an environment of continued high uncertainty, the global recession has intensified and become more synchronous since the Bank’s January Monetary Policy Report Update, with weaker-than-expected activity in all major economies.
Errata: The source for Chart 1 (on page 3) is Global Insight, not the Bank of Canada. As well, in chart 15 (on page18), the base year for the exchange rate index CERI excluding the U.S. dollar should read 1992=100, not 1997=100.
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April 13, 2009
Business Outlook Survey - Spring 2009
Business sentiment remains negative. While some indicators have inched up from historical lows, the results of the spring survey continue to suggest a weak outlook for the Canadian economy.
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April 9, 2009
Next Steps for Canadian Monetary Policy
In 2006, the Bank initiated a research program exploring two alternatives to the current inflation-targeting framework: (i) lowering the inflation target and (ii) shifting to a price-level target. This article discusses progress to date, places the Bank's findings in the context of a broader literature, and identifies avenues for future research. -
April 9, 2009
Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2009
Examination of progress in the Bank’s exploration of two alternatives to the current inflation-targeting framework: (i) lowering the inflation target and (ii) shifting to a price-level target; a review of arguments for and against price-level targeting, focusing on its costs and benefits compared with inflation targeting; assessing the merits of price-level targeting vis-à-vis inflation targeting from a debt-revaluation perspective; quantifying redistribution of wealth in Canada in the face of unexpected inflation.