Security Transaction Taxes and Market Quality Staff Working Paper 2011-26 Anna Pomeranets, Daniel G. Weaver We examine nine changes in the New York State Security Transaction Taxes (STT) between 1932 and 1981. We find that imposing or increasing an STT results in wider bidask spreads, lower volume, and increased price impact of trades. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C4, C43, G, G1, G10, G12
November 23, 2011 Renewing Canada’s Monetary Policy Framework Remarks Mark Carney Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal Montréal, Quebec Governor Mark Carney discusses the key elements of Canada’s inflation-targeting regime. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
November 23, 2011 Canada’s Inflation-Targeting Regime Enhances Economic Well-Being of Canadians, Says Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney Media Relations Montréal, Quebec The effectiveness of Canada’s inflation-targeting regime, adopted in 1991, is well established, and partly responsible for the strength and relative stability of the Canadian economy, Governor Mark Carney of the Bank of Canada said today. “Over the past twenty years, Canadians have enjoyed a more stable and prosperous economic environment. Even during the recent crisis, […] Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
November 17, 2011 Promoting Canada’s Economic and Financial Well-being in an Uncertain World Presentation Jean Boivin Thompson Chamber of Commerce Thompson, Manitoba Deputy Governor Jean Boivin discusses the Bank of Canada’s current economic outlook, the road from recession to recovery, and the Bank’s four main responsibilities. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Presentations
November 17, 2011 The International Monetary System: An Assessment and Avenue for Reform Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2011 Lawrence L. Schembri, Eric Santor The current international monetary system is in need of reform. This article first provides an assessment of the existing system, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses. It notes that the system has not facilitated the symmetric and timely adjustment in the real exchange rate necessary to accommodate the integration of China and other emerging-market economies into the global economy. This lack of adjustment contributed to the global financial crisis and recession and, because it is forestalling the required rotation of global demand, is hindering the global recovery. The article then discusses reform of the system that would see all systemically important countries and currency areas adopt market-based and convertible floating exchange rates supported by appropriate monetary, fiscal and financial sector policy frameworks. It also examines the roles of the G-20 countries and major international financial institutions in promoting and facilitating the system’s transition. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rate regimes, International topics
November 17, 2011 Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2011 This issue features four articles that present research and analysis by Bank staff. The first focuses on reforming the international monetary system; the second on the role of collateral and haircut policy in central bank lending; and the third on the extraction of information from the Business Outlook Survey using principal-component analysis. The fourth reviews studies that model the counterfeiting of bank notes. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
What Matters in Determining Capital Surcharges for Systemically Important Financial Institutions? Staff Discussion Paper 2011-9 Céline Gauthier, Toni Gravelle, Xuezhi Liu, Moez Souissi One way of internalizing the externalities that each individual bank imposes on the rest of the financial system is to impose capital surcharges on them in line with their systemic importance. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, C8, C81, E, E4, E44, G, G0, G01, G2, G21
November 17, 2011 Liquidity Provision and Collateral Haircuts in Payments Systems Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2011 James Chapman, Jonathan Chiu, Miguel Molico Central banks play a pivotal role in well-functioning payments systems by providing liquidity via collateralized lending. This article discusses the role of collateral and haircut policy in central bank lending, as well as the distinguishing features of the central bank’s policy relative to private sector practices. It presents a model that explicitly incorporates the unique role of central banks in the payments system and argues that central banks must consider how their haircut policies affect the relative price and liquidity of assets, the market’s asset allocation, and the likelihood of participants to default. Furthermore, under extraordinary circumstances, there is a rationale for the central bank to temporarily reduce haircuts or broaden the list of eligible collateral to mitigate the shortage of liquidity in the market. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Financial stability, Payment clearing and settlement systems
November 17, 2011 Extracting Information from the Business Outlook Survey: A Principal-Component Approach Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2011 Lise Pichette, Lori Rennison This article reviews recent work that uses principal-component analysis to extract information common to indicators from the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey (BOS). The authors use correlation analysis and an out-of-sample forecasting exercise to assess and compare the information content of the principal component with that of responses to key individual survey questions on growth in real gross domestic product and in real business investment. Results suggest that summarizing the common movements among BOS indicators may provide useful information for forecasting near-term growth in business investment. For growth in real gross domestic product, however, the survey’s balance of opinion on future sales growth appears to be more informative. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Regional economic developments
November 17, 2011 Modelling the Counterfeiting of Bank Notes: A Literature Review Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2011 Ben Fung, Enchuan Shao The objective of this article is to improve our understanding of counterfeiting and its policy implications by reviewing research in this area. There has been almost no empirical work on counterfeiting because of the limited availability of counterfeiting data and related statistics. The authors therefore focus on theoretical studies that directly model the behaviour of the relevant economic agents. They first establish some stylized facts about counterfeiting to provide a general understanding of the problem. They then briefly review several models of counterfeiting and summarize their relevant insights, focusing on the implications of the findings for the incentive to counterfeit, social welfare and anti-counterfeiting policies. The authors find that the policy implications of these studies support the Bank’s comprehensive anti-counterfeiting strategy. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Bank notes