Staff discussion papers

Staff discussion papers are completed staff research studies on a wide variety of subjects relevant to central bank policy.

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283 result(s)

An Overview of Carbon Markets and Emissions Trading: Lessons for Canada

Staff Discussion Paper 2008-1 Michael R. King
The author provides an overview of carbon markets and explains how emissions trading can be important in encouraging the reduction of CO2 emissions in an efficient manner. He describes the key steps in establishing a cap-and-trade system, and reviews the European experiences with emissions trading. He highlights the lessons learned from the EU Emissions Trading […]

Tracking Canadian Trend Productivity: A Dynamic Factor Model with Markov Switching

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-12 Michael Dolega
The author attempts to track Canadian labour productivity over the past four decades using a multivariate dynamic factor model that, in addition to the labour productivity series, includes aggregate compensation and consumption information. Productivity is assumed to switch between two regimes (the high-growth state and the low-growth state) with different trend growth rates according to […]
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, O, O4, O5, O51

Price-Level Targeting and Stabilization Policy: A Review

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-11 Steve Ambler
The author surveys recent articles on the costs and benefits of price-level targeting versus inflation targeting, focusing on the benefits and costs of price-level targeting as a tool for stabilization policy. He reviews papers that examine how price-level targeting affects the short-run trade-off between output and inflation variability by influencing expectations of future inflation. The […]
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52

The Direct Effect of China on Canadian Consumer Prices: An Empirical Assessment

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-10 Louis Morel
The author investigates the direct effect of Chinese imported goods on consumer prices in Canada. On average, over the 2001–06 period, the direct effect of consumer goods imported from China is estimated to have reduced the inflation rate by about 0.1 percentage points per year. This disinflationary effect is due to two causes: first, the […]
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31

Hedge Funds and Financial Stability: The State of the Debate

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-9 Michael R. King, Philipp Maier
The authors review the state of the debate on hedge funds and the potential threat that hedge funds pose to financial stability. The collapse of a hedge fund or a group of hedge funds might pose a systemic risk directly by damaging systematically important financial institutions, or indirectly by increasing market volatility and generating a […]

Price-Level Targeting

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-8 Agathe Côté
In November 2006, the Bank of Canada announced its intention to lead a concerted research program over the next few years on the type of monetary policy framework that would best contribute to the economic well-being of Canadians in the decades ahead. The research will focus on two broad questions: whether economic welfare might be […]
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58

A Note on Contestability in the Canadian Banking Industry

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-7 Jason Allen, Ying Liu
The authors examine the degree of contestability in the Canadian banking system using the H-statistic proposed by Panzar and Rosse (1987) and modified by Bikker, Spierdijk, and Finnie (2006). A modification is necessary because the standard approach of controlling for size using total assets leads to an upward bias in the H-statistic. The authors propose […]
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial institutions JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, L, L1, L11

Asset-Price Misalignments and Monetary Policy: How Flexible Should Inflation-Targeting Regimes Be?

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-6 Jack Selody, Carolyn A. Wilkins
The authors analyze the extent to which inflation-targeting frameworks should incorporate flexibility in order to respond to asset-price misalignments and other atypical events. They examine the costs and benefits of adding flexibility to the Bank's current inflation-targeting framework, and conclude that maintaining low and stable consumer price inflation is the best contribution that monetary policy […]

Unanticipated Defaults and Losses in Canada's Large-Value Payments System, Revisited

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-5 Devin Ball, Walter Engert
Recent work at the Bank of Canada studied the impact of default in Canada’s large-value payments system, and concluded that participants could readily manage their potential losses (McVanel 2005). In an extension of that work, the authors use a much larger set of daily payments data – with three times as many observations – to […]

Should Central Banks Adjust Their Target Horizons in Response to House-Price Bubbles?

Staff Discussion Paper 2007-4 Meenakshi Basant Roi, Rhys R. Mendes
The authors investigate the implications of house-price bubbles for the optimal inflation-target horizon using a dynamic general-equilibrium model with credit frictions, house-price bubbles, and small open-economy features. They find that, given the distribution of shocks and inflation persistence over the past 25 years, the optimal target horizon for Canada tends to be at the lower […]
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