January 14, 1997 Annual Report 1996 In 1996 inflation remained within the Bank’s target range but was subject to downward pressure. The low rate of inflation contributed to a major easing in monetary conditions, and interest rates reached their lowest level in 30 years. Content Type(s): Publications, Annual Report
August 14, 1998 Bank of Canada Review - Summer 1998 Cover Page Bill of exchange, Commercial Bank of Newfoundland This bill of exchange is from the Commercial Bank of Newfoundland (1857–1894), measures approximately 23 cm by 11 cm, and is part of the National Currency Collection at the Bank of Canada. Photography by James Zagon. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
June 15, 2007 Interpreting Canada's Productivity Performance in the Past Decade: Lessons from Recent Research Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2007 Richard Dion Dion examines the evolution of Canadian productivity since the mid-1990s, using the United States as a benchmark. During this period, trend productivity growth in Canada remained modest, whereas the U.S. witnessed a strong resurgence. Among the factors identified as potential root causes of Canada's lower productivity performance are a lower investment in information and communications technology, reallocation and adjustment costs associated with large relative price movements, and a weak demand for innovation. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Productivity, Recent economic and financial developments
June 17, 2007 Trend Labour Supply in Canada: Implications of Demographic Shifts and the Increasing Labour Force Attachment of Women Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2007 Russell Barnett While demographic change has been an ongoing process in Canada, labour market implications of an aging population will become more acute in coming years. This article discusses the anticipated slowing in the growth of trend labour input over the coming decades with the aging of the baby boomers, declining fertility rates, and the stabilization of the labour force attachment of women. As the pool of labour shrinks, employers and governments will be looking for ways to address barriers to continued labour force participation and firms will have a greater incentive to find ways of improving labour productivity. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Economic models, Labour markets, Potential output
December 12, 1997 Potential output growth: Some long-term projections Bank of Canada Review - Winter 1997-1998 John Kuszczak, Richard Dion This article examines factors that have affected the growth of potential output since the 1950s and presents three possible scenarios for its growth in the future. The authors conclude that there will be a marked slowing in the future growth of potential output as a result of slow population growth and a reduction in labour force participation as the population ages. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Potential output
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
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
December 21, 2008 Financial System Review - December 2008 The turmoil in global financial markets entered a new phase in September, moving to a more acute and broad-based loss of confidence in the context of a series of failures and near-failures of large financial institutions in the United States and Europe.FSR Highlights - December 2008 Content Type(s): Publications, Financial Stability Report
December 16, 2001 Risk Management in the Exchange Fund Account Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2001–2002 Michel Rochette In this article, author Michel Rochette of the Bank's Risk-Management Unit briefly describes the initiatives undertaken to identify, analyze, model, and manage the principal risks inherent in the transactions of the Exchange Fund Account (EFA), where the international reserves of the federal government are held. The author focuses on five types of risk: credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and legal risk. In addition, the author presents the risk-management principles underlying the activities of the EFA and the governance structure of the Account. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
November 16, 2001 Factors Affecting Regional Economic Performance in Canada Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2001 Brigid Brady, Farid Novin This article examines three shocks that affected Canada's economy over the past year from a regional perspective. The downturn in the U.S. economy, high energy prices, and low lumber prices affected Canada's regions to varying degrees. The relative size of the various economic sectors in each region is important in determining the intensity of a region's response to an economic shock. The article presents some stylized facts on the sectoral mix of each region followed by an analysis of the effects of the three shocks on the regional economies. An outlook is presented, which highlights the results of the survey by the Bank's regional offices in the summer of 2001. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Regional economic developments