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
The Mutable Geography of Firms’ International Trade Staff working paper 2025-11 Lu Han Exporters frequently change their market destinations. This paper introduces a new approach to identifying the drivers of these decisions over time. Analysis of customs data from China and the UK shows most changes are driven by demand rather than supply-related shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): F, F1, F12, F14, L, L1, L11 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Canadian housing supply elasticities Staff analytical note 2021-21 Nuno Paixão We explain how housing supply elasticities for Canadian cities are estimated. The procedure we use exploits the systematic differences in various cities’ sensitivity to regional house-price cycles. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): R, R1, R14, R3, R31, R5, R52 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
February 7, 2014 Flexible Inflation Targeting and “Good” and “Bad” Disinflation Remarks Tiff Macklem John Molson School of Business Concordia University Montréal, Quebec Senior Deputy Governor Tiff Macklem discusses flexible inflation targeting and “good” and “bad” disinflation. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
Wage Growth in Canada and the United States: Factors Behind Recent Weakness Staff analytical note 2017-8 Dany Brouillette, James Ketcheson, Olena Kostyshyna, Jonathan Lachaine This note examines the relatively subdued pace of wage growth in Canada since the commodity price decline in 2014 and assesses whether the weakness is attributable to cyclical (e.g., labour market slack) or structural factors (e.g., resource reallocation and demographic change). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J3, J30 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
August 15, 2013 Big Data Analysis: The Next Frontier Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2013 Nii Ayi Armah The formulation of monetary policy at the Bank of Canada relies on the analysis of a broad set of economic information. Greater availability of immediate and detailed information would improve real-time economic decision making. Technological advances have provided an opportunity to exploit “big data” - the vast amount of digital data from business transactions, social media and networked computers. Big data can be a complement to traditional information sources, offering fresh insight for the monitoring of economic activity and inflation. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, C6, C63, C8, C80
Estimating Policy Functions in Payments Systems Using Reinforcement Learning Staff working paper 2021-7 Pablo S. Castro, Ajit Desai, Han Du, Rodney J. Garratt, Francisco Rivadeneyra We demonstrate the ability of reinforcement learning techniques to estimate the best-response functions of banks participating in high-value payments systems—a real-world strategic game of incomplete information. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): A, A1, A12, C, C7, D, D8, D83, E, E4, E42, E5, E58 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech, Payment and financial market infrastructures
Did the Renewable Fuel Standard Shift Market Expectations of the Price of Ethanol? Staff working paper 2017-35 Christiane Baumeister, Reinhard Ellwanger, Lutz Kilian It is commonly believed that the response of the price of corn ethanol (and hence of the price of corn) to shifts in biofuel policies operates in part through market expectations and shifts in storage demand, yet to date it has proved difficult to measure these expectations and to empirically evaluate this view. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): Q, Q1, Q18, Q2, Q28, Q4, Q42, Q5, Q58 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures
Testing Collusion and Cooperation in Binary Choice Games Staff working paper 2023-58 Erhao Xie This paper studies the testable implication of players’ collusive or cooperative behaviour in a binary choice game with complete information. I illustrate the implementation of this test by revisiting the entry game between Walmart and Kmart. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C5, C57, L, L1, L13 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
Discount Rates, Debt Maturity, and the Fiscal Theory Staff working paper 2021-58 Alexandre Corhay, Thilo Kind, Howard Kung, Gonzalo Morales Do bond risk premiums influence the effects of debt maturity operations? Using a model with realistic bond risk premiums, we show that maturity operations have sizable effects on expected inflation and output when the central bank passively responds to inflation and the fiscal authority weakly responds to the debt level. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E44, E6, E63, G, G1, G12 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy tools and implementation