Avoiding the Pitfalls: Can Regime-Switching Tests Detect Bubbles? Staff Working Paper 1996-11 Simon van Norden, Robert Vigfusson Work on testing for bubbles has caused much debate, much of which has focussed on methodology. Monte Carlo simulations reported in Evans (1991) showed that standard tests for unit roots and cointegration frequently reject the presence of bubbles even when such bubbles are present by construction. Evans referred to this problem as the pitfall of testing for bubbles. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, C5, C52
Redemption Runs in Canadian Corporate Bond Funds? Staff Analytical Note 2018-21 Rohan Arora Mutual funds employ a host of tools to manage redemption run risk. However, our results suggest that Canadian corporate bond funds may be vulnerable to redemption runs, especially when they are less liquid and when market volatility is high. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G0, G01, G2, G23
Grasping De(centralized) Fi(nance) Through the Lens of Economic Theory Staff Working Paper 2022-43 Jonathan Chiu, Charles M. Kahn, Thorsten Koeppl We analyze the value proposition and limitations of decentralized finance (DeFi). Based on a distributed ledger and smart contracts, DeFi can guarantee the execution of financial contracts, potentially lowering the costs of intermediation and improving financial inclusion. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): G, G2
The Employment Costs of Downward Nominal-Wage Rigidity Staff Working Paper 2000-1 Jean Farès, Seamus Hogan In this paper, we use firm-level wage and employment data to address whether there is evidence of downward nominal-wage rigidity, and whether that rigidity is associated with a reduction in employment. We describe an estimation bias that can result when estimating reduced-form wage and employment equations and suggest a way of controlling for that bias. […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C33, J, J2, J23, J3, J31
Empirical Likelihood Block Bootstrapping Staff Working Paper 2008-18 Jason Allen, Allan Gregory, Katsumi Shimotsu Monte Carlo evidence has made it clear that asymptotic tests based on generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation have disappointing size. The problem is exacerbated when the moment conditions are serially correlated. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C2, C22
A Practical Guide to Swap Curve Construction Staff Working Paper 2000-17 Uri Ron The swap market has enjoyed tremendous growth in the last decade. With government issues shrinking in supply and increased price volatilities, the swap term structure has emerged as an alternative pricing, benchmark, and hedging mechanism to the government term structure. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Asset pricing, International financial markets JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G15
Business Closures and (Re)Openings in Real Time Using Google Places Staff Working Paper 2022-1 Thibaut Duprey, Daniel E. Rigobon, Philip Schnattinger, Artur Kotlicki, Soheil Baharian, T. R. Hurd The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for policy-makers to closely monitor disruptions to the retail and food business sectors. We present a new method to measure business opening and closing rates using real-time data from Google Places, the dataset behind the Google Maps service. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): C, C5, C55, C8, C81, D, D2, D22, E, E3, E32
A Tale of Two Countries: Cash Demand in Canada and Sweden Staff Discussion Paper 2019-7 Walter Engert, Ben Fung, Björn Segendorf Cash use for payments has been steadily decreasing in many countries, including Canada and Sweden. This might suggest an evolution toward a cashless society. But in Canada, cash in circulation relative to GDP has been stable for decades and has even increased in recent years. By contrast, the cash-to-GDP ratio in Sweden has been falling steadily. What has caused this difference? Are there lessons to be learned from comparing the Canadian and Swedish experiences? Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Financial services, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5
Contribution of ICT Use to Output and Labour-Productivity Growth in Canada Staff Working Paper 2002-7 Hashmat Khan, Marjorie Santos There is ample evidence that information and communication technologies (ICT) contributed significantly to the surge in output and labour-productivity growth in the United States in the late 1990s. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): O, O4, O5
Limited Commitment, Endogenous Credibility and the Challenges of Price-level Targeting Staff Working Paper 2018-61 Gino Cateau, Malik Shukayev This paper studies the cost of limited commitment when a central bank has the discretion to adjust policy whenever the costs of honoring its past commitments become high. Specifically, we consider a central bank that seeks to implement optimal policy in a New Keynesian model by committing to a price-level target path. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credibility, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52