Ian Christensen - Latest

• Consumption, Housing Collateral, and the Canadian Business Cycle

  Staff Working Paper 2009-26 Ian Christensen, Paul Corrigan, Caterina Mendicino, Shin-Ichi Nishiyama

  Using Bayesian methods, we estimate a small open economy model in which consumers face limits to credit determined by the value of their housing stock. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the role of collateralized household debt in the Canadian business cycle.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E3, E32, E4, E44, E5, E52, R, R2, R21
• October 8, 2006

  Modelling Financial Channels for Monetary Policy Analysis

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2006 Ian Christensen, Ben Fung, Césaire Meh

  The Bank of Canada considers a wide range of information and analysis before making a monetary policy decision and uses carefully articulated models to produce economic projections and to examine alternative scenarios. This article describes an ongoing research agenda at the Bank to develop models in which financial variables play an active role in the transmission of monetary policy actions to economic activity. Such models can help to analyze information from the financial side of the economy and to provide an overall view of the implications of financial developments for the current economic outlook. The authors also explain how this research can help address other issues relevant to the objectives of monetary policy, including how asset-price movements should be taken into account in the monetary policy framework.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Economic models, Monetary policy transmission

• Monetary Policy in an Estimated DSGE Model with a Financial Accelerator

  Staff Working Paper 2006-9 Ian Christensen, Ali Dib

  The authors estimate a sticky-price dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model with a financial accelerator, à la Bernanke, Gertler, and Gilchrist (1999), to assess the importance of financial frictions in the amplification and propagation of the effects of transitory shocks.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E37, E4, E44
• November 23, 2004

  Real Return Bonds: Monetary Policy Credibility and Short-Term Inflation Forecasting

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Christopher Reid, Frédéric Dion, Ian Christensen

  The break-even inflation rate (BEIR) is calculated by comparing the yields on conventional and Real Return Bonds. Defined as the average rate of inflation that equates the expected returns on these two bonds, the BEIR has the potential to contain useful information about long-run inflation expectations. Yet the BEIR has been higher, on average, and more variable than survey measures of inflation expectations, which may be explained by the effects of premiums and distortions embedded in the BEIR. Because of the difficulty in accounting for these distortions, the BEIR should not be given a large weight as a measure of long-run inflation expectations at this time. However, as the Real Return Bond market continues to develop, the BEIR should become a more useful indicator of inflation expectations. At present, it demonstrates no clear advantage over survey measures and even past inflation rates in forecasting near-term inflation.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing

• Real Return Bonds, Inflation Expectations, and the Break-Even Inflation Rate

  Staff Working Paper 2004-43 Ian Christensen, Christopher Reid, Frédéric Dion

  According to the Fisher hypothesis, the gap between Canadian nominal and Real Return Bond yields (or break-even inflation rate) should be a good measure of inflation expectations.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E4, E43