November 19, 2002 Purchasing-Power Parity: Definition, Measurement, and Interpretation Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2002 Robert Lafrance, Lawrence L. Schembri This article examines the concept of purchasing-power parity (PPP) and its implications for the equilibrium value of the Canadian exchange rate. PPP has two main applications, as a theory of exchange rate determination and as a means to compare living standards across countries. Concerning exchange rate determination, PPP is mainly useful as a reminder that monetary policy has no long-run impact on the real exchange rate, since the exchange rate can deviate persistently from its PPP value in response to real shocks. To compare living standards across countries, PPP exchange rates constructed by comparing the prices of national consumption baskets are used to translate per capita national incomes into a common currency. These rates are useful because they offset differences in national price levels to obtain comparable measures of purchasing power, but they are not an accurate measure of the equilibrium value of the exchange rate. The authors conclude that the current deviation of the Canadian exchange rate from the PPP rate does not imply that the exchange rate is undervalued, but that this deviation reflects the impact of persistent real factors, in particular, lower commodity prices. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates
October 23, 2002 Monetary Policy Report – October 2002 Over the past year, Canada’s economy has outperformed the economies of virtually all the other major industrial countries. Content Type(s): Publications, Monetary Policy Report
August 21, 2002 Monetary Policy and Uncertainty Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Paul Jenkins, David Longworth Central banks must cope with considerable uncertainty about what will happen in the economy when formulating monetary policy. This article describes the different types of uncertainty that arise and looks at examples of uncertainty that the Bank has recently encountered. It then reviews the strategies employed by the Bank to deal with this problem. The other articles in this special issue focus on three of these major strategies. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy framework
August 21, 2002 Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Cover page Welland Canal Note The note, signed by Merritt as company president, measures 184 mm by 82 mm and forms part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada. Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
August 20, 2002 Information and Analysis for Monetary Policy: Coming to a Decision Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Tiff Macklem This article outlines one of the Bank's key approaches to dealing with the uncertainty that surrounds decisions on monetary policy: the consideration of a wide range of information from a variety of sources. More specifically, it describes the information and analysis that the monetary policy decision-makers—the Governing Council of the Bank of Canada—receive in the two or three weeks leading up to a decision on the setting of the policy rate—the target overnight interest rate. The article also describes how the Governing Council reaches this decision. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation
August 19, 2002 Models in Policy-Making Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Donald Coletti, Stephen Murchison This article examines another strategy in the Bank's approach to dealing with an uncertain world: the use of carefully articulated models to produce economic forecasts and to examine the implications of the various risks to those forecasts. Economic models are deliberate simplifications of a complex world that allow economists to make predictions that are reasonably accurate and that can be easily understood and communicated. By using several models, based on competing paradigms, the Bank minimizes policy errors that could result from relying on one view of the world and one philosophy of model design. The authors review some of the models currently used at the Bank, as well as the role of judgment in the projection process. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Economic models
August 18, 2002 The Role of Simple Rules in the Conduct of Canadian Monetary Policy Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Denise Côté, Jean-Paul Lam, Ying Liu, Pierre St-Amant The third strategy employed by the Bank when dealing with uncertainty is the consideration of appropriate simple reaction functions or "rules" for the setting of the policy interest rate. Since John Taylor's presentation of his much-discussed rule, research on simple policy rules has exploded. Simple rules have several advantages. In particular, they are easy to construct and communicate and are believed by some to be robust, in the sense of generating good results in a variety of economic models. This article provides an overview of the recent research regarding the usefulness and robustness of simple monetary policy rules, particularly in models of the Canadian economy. It also describes and explains the role of simple rules in the conduct of monetary policy in Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy and uncertainty
July 24, 2002 Monetary Policy Report Update – July 2002 t the time of the April Monetary Policy Report, it was evident that a robust economic recovery was underway in Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Monetary Policy Report
May 21, 2002 Inflation and the Macroeconomy: Changes from the 1980s to the 1990s Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2002 David Longworth Over the last 10 years, the level of inflation has been much lower than in the previous two decades. At the same time, the behaviour of inflation has changed profoundly. By surveying the data and the economic research, the author first examines changes in the variability, growth rates, and behaviour of some of the major macroeconomic variables during the 1980s and 1990s. He then looks at how these changes are linked to a shift in the approach of monetary policy over the period. Lastly, he reviews the economic benefits that these changes have had for Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credibility, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits
May 21, 2002 Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2002 Cover page Japanese Hansatsu The notes on the cover range in value from 5 ryo to 50 mon and date from the late eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. The largest measures 5.5 by 16.8 centimetres. All four pieces are part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada. Photography by James Zagon, Ottawa. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review