December 23, 2004 Financial System Review - December 2004 The Canadian financial system comprises financial markets, financial institutions, and the clearing and settlement systems. Content Type(s): Publications, Financial Stability Report
November 11, 2008 Merchants' Costs of Accepting Means of Payment: Is Cash the Least Costly? Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2008-2009 Carlos Arango, Varya Taylor In a competitive sales environment, merchants are compelled to offer consumers the option of paying for goods and services using a variety of payment methods, including cash, debit card, or credit card. Each method entails different costs and benefits to merchants. To better understand the costs of accepting retail payments, the Bank of Canada surveyed over 500 Canadian merchants and found that most consider cash the least costly. This article investigated this perception by calculating the variable costs per transaction of accepting different means of payment. The findings are that costs for each payment method vary by merchant and transaction value, with debit cards the least costly payment for a broad cross-section of merchants. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
How Oil Supply Shocks Affect the Global Economy: Evidence from Local Projections Staff discussion paper 2019-6 Olivier Gervais We provide empirical evidence on the impact of oil supply shocks on global aggregates. To do this, we first extract structural oil supply shocks from a standard oil-price determination model found in the literature. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C5, E, E3, E37, Q, Q4, Q43 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Consumer Cash Withdrawal Behaviour: Branch Networks and Online Financial Innovation Staff working paper 2021-28 Heng Chen, Matthew Strathearn, Marcel Voia The physical network of bank branches is important in how consumers manage their cash holdings. This paper estimates how consumer withdrawal behaviour responds to the distance they must travel to their branch. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G2, G21, R, R2, R22 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Digital assets and fintech
Agency Costs, Risk Shocks and International Cycles Staff working paper 2016-2 Marc-André Letendre, Joel Wagner We add agency costs as in Carlstrom and Fuerst (1997) into a two-country, two-good international business-cycle model. In our model, changes in the relative price of investment arise endogenously. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, E3, E32, E4, E44, F, F4, F44 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Economic models, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
A Financial Stability Analysis of Zombie Firms in Canada Staff analytical note 2020-3 Timothy Grieder, Juan Ortega We measure the prevalence of zombie firms in Canada and assess how they could potentially affect the financial system. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
How Do Some Lower-Income Canadians Pay Staff analytical paper 2026-6 Jerry Buckland, Christopher Henry, Wendy Nur, Aidan Romanow-Bear, Stephen Wild Previous research suggests that lower-income Canadians may have unique experiences with the use of payments, including the use of cash and digital payments. We conduct a case study using data from [the Canadian Financial Diaries project/Canadian financial diaries] to gain insight into how some lower-income Canadians pay. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical paper JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E4, E41 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Retail payments
Monetary Policy Implementation in a Negative Rate Environment Staff working paper 2017-25 Michael Boutros, Jonathan Witmer Monetary policy implementation could, in theory, be constrained by deeply negative rates since overnight market participants may have an incentive to invest in cash rather than lend to other participants. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E42, E43, G, G0 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation
Shaping the future: Policy shocks and the GDP growth distribution Staff working paper 2021-24 Francois-Michel Boire, Thibaut Duprey, Alexander Ueberfeldt Can central bank and government policies impact the risks around the outlook for GDP growth? We find that fiscal stimulus makes strong GDP growth more likely—even more so when monetary policy is constrained—rather than weak GDP growth less likely. Thus, fiscal stimulus should accelerate the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, C5, C53, E, E5, E52, E6, E62 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Real economy and forecasting
Credit Conditions, Inflation, and Unemployment Staff working paper 2025-26 Chao Gu, Janet Hua Jiang, Liang Wang We identify two channels that affect the relationship between inflation and unemployment. First, inflation lowers wages because unemployed suffer more from inflation than employed, generating a positive relationship. Second, inflation increases firms’ financing costs, generating a negative relationship. Improvements in firm financing conditions can induce the relationship to switch signs. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E31, E4, E44, E5, E51 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting