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The NAIRU in Canada: Concepts, Determinants and Estimates
An important question that faces macroeconomic policy makers is whether the economy can absorb increases in aggregate demand without generating inflationary pressures. Many economists have found it useful to approach this issue by asking whether the economy is operating at a rate of unemployment consistent with inflation neither accelerating nor decelerating, all else being equal. […] -
An Analysis of the Information Content of Alternative Credit Aggregates
This study evaluates the information content of 25 measures of credit with respect to three macroeconomic variables—nominal spending, real spending and prices. Initially, simple descriptive techniques are used to assess the contemporaneous and leading relationships between the credit aggregates and the three goal variables. Next, bivariate vector autoregression models are constructed by regressing each of […] -
An Analysis of the Information Content of Alternative Monetary Aggregates
In this study the authors compare the information content of alternative monetary aggregates with respect to total spending in the economy, using data for Canada. The analysis considers 46 monetary measures, about half of which constitute conventional summation aggregates, while the remainder are superlative indices of monetary services based on the Fisher Ideal formula. The […] -
Les effets macroéconomiques des déficits budgétaires : résultats d'un modèle de simulation
An increase in a government deficit can have two effects: short-term stimulation of aggregate demand and employment, and long-term contraction of potential output. In this paper, these effects are illustrated using a dynamic, macroeconomic simulation model. The model is not a forecasting tool; it is intended to bridge the gap between Keynesian and supply-side economics […] -
A VAR Analysis of Economic Interdependence: Canada, the United States, and the Rest of the World
The authors use vector autoregression (VAR) modelling techniques to examine the response of the domestic economy to foreign influences and to quantify some of the concepts and relationships relating to economic interdependence. Particular attention is given to the dynamic behaviour and interactions of the U.S. and Canadian economies over the past twenty years. Extensive empirical […] -
Regulation of Financial Institutions: A Functional Analysis
This study has three main objectives: First, to examine the reasons for the existence of financial institutions that simultaneously lend to one group and borrow from another; second, to analyze the reasons for the special treatment of these institutions in terms of the regulation that governs their activities; and third, to assess the types of […] -
International Capital Mobility and Asset Substitutability: Some Theory and Evidence on Recent Structural Changes
This study examines different aspects of the international integration of capital markets. In particular, it attempts to determine whether the changes in controls and regulatory policies that have occurred in the past decade have been associated with a greater degree of market integration. -
The Slowdown in Productivity Growth in the 1975-83 Period: A Survey of Possible Explanations
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 […] -
A Comparison of Alternative Monetary Policy Regimes in a Small Dynamic Open-Economy Simulation Model
In this paper, the simulation properties of a small, dynamic, open-economy IS-LM-Aggregate Supply model are examined under a variety of alternative policy rule assumptions. These assumptions include rigid money stock, exchange rate and nominal income targets, as well as less rigid policy rules that recognize information limitations. The model that is used consists of four […]