Inventories, Markups, and Real Rigidities in Menu Cost Models Staff Working Paper 2009-6 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Virgiliu Midrigan Real rigidities that limit the responsiveness of real marginal cost to output are a key ingredient of sticky price models necessary to account for the dynamics of output and inflation. We argue here, in the spirit of Bils and Kahn (2000), that the behavior of marginal cost over the cycle is directly related to that of inventories, data on which is readily available. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, F, F1, F12
Comparison of Auction Formats in Canadian Government Auctions Staff Working Paper 2009-5 Olivier Armantier, Nourredine Lafhel Using a rich sample of Canadian government securities auctions, we estimate the structural parameters of a share-auction model accounting for asymmetries across bidders. We find little evidence of asymmetries between participants at Canadian government nominal bond auctions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44, D6, D63, G, G2, G28
What Accounts for the U.S.-Canada Education-Premium Difference? Staff Working Paper 2009-4 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Alexander Ueberfeldt This paper analyzes the differences in wage ratios of university graduates to less than university graduates, the education premium, in Canada and the United States from 1980 to 2000. Both countries experienced a similar increase in the fraction of university graduates and a similar increase in skill biased technological change based on capital-embodied technological progress, but only the United States had a large increase in the education premium. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Productivity JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E25, J, J2, J24, J3, J31
Uninsurable Investment Risks and Capital Income Taxation Staff Working Paper 2009-3 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima This paper studies the capital accumulation and welfare implications of reducing capital income taxation in a general equilibrium economy with uninsurable investment risks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E22, E6, E62, G, G3, G32, H, H2, H24, H25
Monetary Policy Lag, Zero Lower Bound, and Inflation Targeting Staff Working Paper 2009-2 Shin-Ichi Nishiyama Although the concept of monetary policy lag has historical roots deep in the monetary economics literature, relatively little attention has been paid to the idea. In this paper, we build on Svensson's (1997) inflation targeting framework by explicitly taking into account the lagged effect of monetary policy and characterize the optimal monetary policy reaction function both in the absence and in the presence of the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): C, C6, C63, E, E5, E52, E58
The Impact of Market Timing on Canadian and U.S. Firms' Capital Structure Staff Working Paper 2009-1 Zhaoxia Xu This paper studies the impact of market timing on Canadian firms' capital structure and makes a comparison with U.S. firms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32
December 31, 2008 Summary of Government of Canada - Outstanding as at 31 December 2008 Content Type(s): Publications, Historical: Securities and loans
December 29, 2008 Results for the 29 December 2008 Term Loan Facility The results of today's TLF operation are as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
Financial Intermediation, Liquidity and Inflation Staff Working Paper 2008-49 Jonathan Chiu, Césaire Meh This paper develops a search-theoretic model to study the interaction between banking and monetary policy and how this interaction affects the allocation and welfare. Regarding how banking affects the welfare costs of inflation: First, we find that, with banking, inflation generates smaller welfare costs. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E5, E50
India and the Global Demand for Commodities: Is There an Elephant in the Room? Staff Discussion Paper 2008-18 Michael Francis, Corinne Luu After 10 years of impressive growth, India is now the fourth largest economy in the world. Yet, to date, India's impact on global commodity markets has been muted. The authors examine how India's domestic and trade policies have distorted and constrained its demand for commodities. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Development economics, International topics JEL Code(s): F, F1, F14, O, O1, O13, O5, O53