September 18, 2008 Bank of Canada Announces Term PRA Transaction As part of its provision of liquidity in support of the efficient functioning of financial markets, the Bank of Canada announced today that it will enter into a 28-day term purchase and resale agreement (PRA) as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
September 18, 2008 Measuring Inflation: Methodology and Misconceptions Remarks John Murray Certified General Accountants of Ontario Toronto, Ontario These past few months have been busy for central bankers, to say the least, and the past few days are certainly no exception. While developments on Wall Street have garnered much attention, the cost of living has also been an issue for us all, whether we're buying gas at the pumps, booking an airline ticket, or just picking up a loaf of bread at the grocery store. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
Market Structure and the Diffusion of E-Commerce: Evidence from the Retail Banking Industry Staff Working Paper 2008-32 Jason Allen, Robert Clark, Jean-François Houde This paper studies the role that market structure plays in affecting the diffusion of electronic banking. Electronic banking (and electronic commerce more generally) reduces the cost of performing many types of transactions for firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, D4, G, G2, G21, L, L1
September 18, 2008 Bank of Canada Announces Swap Facility with U.S. Federal Reserve as part of Coordinated Central Bank Actions Today, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank are announcing coordinated measures designed to address the continued elevated pressures in U.S. dollar short-term funding markets. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
September 15, 2008 Counterfeit $100 bills circulating in the Greater Montréal Area Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal are warning the public that counterfeit $100 notes of the latestbank note series (the series that features a metallic stripe) are circulating in the Greater Montréal Area. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
September 15, 2008 Bank of Canada issues statement on recent market developments Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada is closely monitoring global market developments. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
September 15, 2008 Productivity in Canada: Does Firm Size Matter? Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2008 Danny Leung, Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima The research findings highlighted in this article suggest that firm-size differences play a significant role in explaining the productivity gap between Canada and the United States. The authors review factors that lead to a positive relationship between productivity and size and then look at Canadian evidence of this relationship at the firm level. They quantify the extent to which the change in Canadian productivity as well as the Canada-U.S. productivity differences can be accounted for by the change in the importance of large firms and identify several factors that play a role in determining average firm size and aggregate productivity. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Productivity
September 15, 2008 Offshoring and Its Effects on the Labour Market and Productivity: A Survey of Recent Literature Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2008 James Rossiter, Yi Zheng, Calista Cheung Offshoring has become an increasingly prominent aspect of the globalization process. Evidence over the past two decades suggests that offshoring has not exerted a noticeable impact on overall employment and earnings growth in advanced economies, but it has likely contributed to shifting the demand for labour towards higher-skilled jobs. There appear to be some positive effects of offshoring on productivity, but such effects differ by country. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): International topics, Labour markets, Productivity
September 15, 2008 Adjusting to the Commodity-Price Boom: The Experiences of Four Industrialized Countries Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2008 Michael Francis Between 2002 and 2008, global commodity prices rose to unprecedented levels. This article examines the process of adjustment to the commodity boom in four industrialized, commodity-exporting countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway). The article focuses on both the direct adjustment within the commodity-producing sectors (via increased employment and capital spending) and the indirect adjustment in the macro economy. The analysis finds that the indirect adjustment process, which was triggered by the increase in incomes that the commodity-price boom generated, has been the most important part of the adjustment in all four economies. Through this channel, aggregate demand rose, exchange rates appreciated, and adjustment was facilitated in other sectors, such as manufacturing and construction. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): International topics, Recent economic and financial developments
September 15, 2008 The Effects of Recent Relative Price Movements on the Canadian Economy Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2008 David Dupuis, Philippe Marcil Although the standard of living of Canadians has improved as a result of terms-of-trade gains created by the sharp rise in real commodity prices over the past five years or so, the commodity-price increase, combined with an exchange rate appreciation and real income gain, triggered structural adjustments by altering underlying economic incentives. The frictions generated in adjusting to the relative price shock have likely contributed to hold back aggregate productivity growth. Dupuis and Marcil examine the structural adjustments that have been required-in particular, the resource reallocation among the different sectors of the economy-and its effects on employment, output, and productivity, as well as the responses of final domestic demand and external trade flows. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Productivity, Recent economic and financial developments