Why Do Shoppers Use Cash? Evidence from Shopping Diary Data Staff Working Paper 2012-24 Naoki Wakamori, Angelika Welte Recent studies find that cash remains a dominant payment choice for small-value transactions despite the prevalence of alternative means of payment such as debit and credit cards. For policy makers an important question is whether consumers truly prefer using cash or merchants restrict card usage. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C2, D, D1, G, G2
July 27, 2012 Weekly Financial Statistics - 27 July 2012 Content Type(s): Publications, Historical: Weekly Financial Statistics
July 26, 2012 Banking and Financial Statistics - 26 July 2012 Content Type(s): Publications, Historical: Banking and Financial Statistics
The Sensitivity of Producer Prices to Exchange Rates: Insights from Micro Data Staff Working Paper 2012-20 Shutao Cao, Wei Dong, Ben Tomlin This paper studies the sensitivity of Canadian producer prices to the Canada-U.S. exchange rate. Using a unique product-level price data set, we estimate and analyze the impact of movements in the exchange rate on both domestic and export producer prices. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F3, F31, F4, F41, L, L1, L11
International Business Cycles and Financial Frictions Staff Working Paper 2012-19 Wen Yao This paper builds a two-country DSGE model to study the quantitative impact of financial frictions on business cycle co-movements when investors have foreign asset exposure. The investor in each country holds capital in both countries and faces a leverage constraint on her debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, International financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, F, F4, F42, F44
July 9, 2012 Business Outlook Survey - Summer 2012 Responses to the summer survey suggest that businesses generally remain positive about the outlook, but are mindful of renewed uncertainty regarding the global economic environment. Content Type(s): Publications, Business Outlook Survey
A Framework to Assess Vulnerabilities Arising from Household Indebtedness Using Microdata Staff Discussion Paper 2012-3 Ramdane Djoudad Rising levels of household indebtedness have created concerns about the vulnerabilities of households to adverse economic shocks and the impact on financial stability. To assess these risks, the author presents a formal stress-testing framework that uses microdata to simulate how various economic shocks affect the distribution of the debt-service ratio (DSR) for the household sector. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial stability JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, C3, C31, D, D1, D14, E, E5, E51
Growth in Emerging Market Economies and the Commodity Boom of 2003–2008: Evidence from Growth Forecast Revisions Staff Working Paper 2012-8 Elif Arbatli, Garima Vasishtha Demand for industrial raw materials from emerging economies, particularly emerging Asia, is widely believed to have fueled the surge in oil and industrial commodity prices during 2002-2008. The paper first presents a simple storage model in which commodity prices respond to market participant’s changing expectations of the future macroeconomic environment. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): Q, Q4, Q41, Q43
February 23, 2012 What Explains Trends in Household Debt in Canada? Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2011-2012 Allan Crawford, Umar Faruqui Similar to the experiences in many other countries, household indebtedness in Canada has exhibited an upward trend over the past 30 years. Both mortgage and non-mortgage (consumer) credit have contributed to this development. In this article, the authors use microdata to highlight the main factors underlying the strong trend increase since the late 1990s. Favourable housing affordability, owing to factors such as income growth and low interest rates, has supported significant increases in home-ownership rates and mortgage debt. Much of the rise in consumer credit has been facilitated by higher housing values (used as collateral for loans) and financial innovation that makes it easier for households to access this credit. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D14, E, E5, E51
February 23, 2012 Household Borrowing and Spending in Canada Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2011-2012 Jeannine Bailliu, Katya Kartashova, Césaire Meh Understanding how much of the increased debt load of Canadian households has been used to finance household spending on consumption and home renovation is important for the conduct of monetary policy. In this article, the authors use a comprehensive data set that provides information on the uses of debt by Canadian households. They first present some facts regarding the evolution of Canadian household debt over the period from 1999 to 2010, emphasizing the increased importance of debt flows that are secured by housing. They then explore how Canadian households have used their borrowed funds over the same period, and assess the role of these borrowed funds in financing total consumption and spending on home renovation. Finally, they examine the possible effects of a decline in house prices on consumption when housing equity is used as collateral against household indebtedness. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Domestic demand and components, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, E5, E51, H, H3, H31