December 11, 2007 The Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates: Implications for Monetary Policy Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2007-2008 Claude Lavoie, Stephen Murchison One of the most important factors that must be considered if countries are thinking about lowering the target level of inflation much below 2 per cent is the zero interest bound. Targeting inflation rates that are too low, the authors note, may restrict the ability of monetary policy to respond to economic shocks by limiting the amount by which interest rates can be eased. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits, Interest rates, Monetary policy implementation
August 14, 1999 Passive Money, Active Money, and Monetary Policy Bank of Canada Review - Summer 1999 David Laidler This article by the Bank's visiting economist examines the role of money in the transmission of monetary policy. Professor Laidler argues against the view of money as a passive variable that reacts to changes in prices, output, and interest rates but has no direct causative effect on them. He maintains that the empirical evidence supports the view of money playing an active role in the transmission mechanism. While he agrees that individual monetary aggregates can be difficult to read because of instabilities in the demand-for-money function, he argues that monetary aggregates, particularly those relating to transactions money, should have a more significant place in the hierarchy of policy variables that the Bank considers when formulating monetary policy. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary aggregates, Monetary policy transmission
January 30, 2005 Annual Report 2004 The Bank of Canada has played an integral role in Canadian society for 70 years. When the Bank opened its doors in the spring of 1935, this country was struggling to define itself and to survive the economic and social turmoil of the Great Depression. Like Canada’s economy, its central bank has evolved and grown over the years. It has faced critical challenges and embraced change. But the Bank’s mandate has not changed. It is now, as it was then, to provide an effective, national monetary authority for Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Annual Report
October 18, 2005 What Drives Movements in Exchange Rates? Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2005 Jeannine Bailliu, Michael R. King Understanding what causes the exchange rate to move has been on ongoing challenge for economists. Despite extensive research, traditional macro models of exchange rate determination—with the exception of the Bank of Canada's exchange rate equation—have typically not fared well, motivating economists to explore new ways to model exchange rate movements that incorporate more complex and realistic settings. Within the context of the sharp appreciation of the Canadian dollar in 2003 and 2004, Bailliu and King review the macroeconomic models of exchange rates, as well as the micro-structure studies that highlight the importance of trading mechanisms, information asymmetry, and investor heterogeneity for explaining short-term dynamics in exchange rates. In addition to summarizing the current state of knowledge, they highlight recent advances and identify promising alternative approaches. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Economic models, Exchange rates, Financial markets
June 25, 2005 Changes in the Indicator Properties of Narrow Monetary Aggregates Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2005 Tracy Chan, Ramdane Djoudad, Jackson Loi Although many countries have abandoned monetary targeting in recent decades, monetary aggregates are still useful indicators of future economic activity. Past research has shown that, compared with other monetary aggregates and expressed in real terms, net M1 and gross M1 have traditionally provided superior leading information for output growth. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary aggregates, Monetary and financial indicators
April 22, 2005 Borders, Common Currencies, Trade, and Welfare: What Can We Learn from the Evidence? Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2005 John F. Helliwell, Lawrence L. Schembri Recent evidence indicates that the intensity of economic exchange within and across borders is significantly different: linkages are much tighter within, than among, nation-states. These findings, however, do not necessarily imply that borders and separate national currencies represent significant barriers to trade that should be removed, since the evidence is also consistent with the alternative hypothesis, that domestic exchange is more efficient because domestic producers are better able to satisfy the requirements of local consumers, owing to common tastes and institutions and the existence of local information and social networks. Focusing primarily on trade linkages within and between Canada and the United States, the authors review the evidence on the extent to which national borders lessen the intensity of international economic linkages, primarily trade in goods and services, and the effects on domestic welfare. They also examine the evidence on the impact of common currencies on trade and welfare. They determine that, since the empirical models employed to date in this research cannot distinguish between alternative explanations of the evidence, it is not yet possible to draw firm conclusions for policy-making. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rate regimes, International topics, Monetary policy framework
December 24, 2004 Government of Canada Yield-Curve Dynamics, 1986-2003 Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2004-2005 Grahame Johnson A database of historical Government of Canada zero-coupon yield curves developed at the Bank of Canada is introduced in this article, which also includes an initial statistical analysis of the behaviour and evolution of the zero-coupon interest (spot) rates over the full period and two distinct subperiods. Specific areas of interest include the evolution of the levels of key interest rates and yield-curve measures over the sample as well as daily changes in the key interest rates and the yield-curve measures; the identification of a relatively small number of factors that drove the evolution of the yield curve; and the total returns that would have been realized by holding bonds of different maturities for a given holding period. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets
June 10, 2010 Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney Outlines Core G-20 Agenda to Reduce Systemic Risk Media Relations Montréal, Quebec G-20 leaders are working towards global reforms that will put the world’s financial system on a more solid footing, Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said today. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
January 30, 2009 Annual Report 2008 It has been a difficult year. The financial turmoil that began mid-2007 deteriorated into a full-blown global financial crisis through 2008. While the resilience and soundness of the Canadian financial system were in many respects exceptional, the scale of the financial crisis and the subsequent global recession had an increasing impact by year’s end on our financial system and our economy. Content Type(s): Publications, Annual Report
January 30, 2008 Annual Report 2007 The year 2007 was marked by sharply increased volatility in financial and foreign exchange markets, and a widening of credit spreads. Despite financial market turbulence, the Canadian economy continued to expand, and inflation remained close to our target of 2 per cent. In this, my final Annual Report message, I begin by reviewing the economic and financial developments and challenges of the past year. I then highlight seven important ongoing challenges faced by Canada and the Bank during my seven years as Governor. Content Type(s): Publications, Annual Report