Macroeconomic Uncertainty Through the Lens of Professional Forecasters Staff working paper 2016-5 Soojin Jo, Rodrigo Sekkel We analyze the evolution of macroeconomic uncertainty in the United States, based on the forecast errors of consensus survey forecasts of different economic indicators. Comprehensive information contained in the survey forecasts enables us to capture a real-time subjective measure of uncertainty in a simple framework. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C38, E, E1, E17, E3, E32 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
December 23, 2004 A Survey of the Price-Setting Behaviour of Canadian Companies Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2004-2005 David Amirault, Carolyn Kwan, Gordon Wilkinson To better understand price-setting behaviour in the Canadian economy, the Bank of Canada's regional offices surveyed a representative sample of 170 firms between July 2002 and March 2003. The authors discuss the reasons behind the survey, the methodology used to develop the questionnaire and conduct the interviews, and summarize the results. The study also assessed several explanations for holding prices steady despite market pressures for a change. The survey findings indicate that prices in Canada are relatively flexible and have become more flexible over the past decade. Price stickiness was generally found to originate in firms' fears of antagonizing customers or disturbing the goodwill or reputation developed with them. A detailed discussion of the results includes a consideration of their implications for monetary policy. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
September 15, 2008 Offshoring and Its Effects on the Labour Market and Productivity: A Survey of Recent Literature Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2008 James Rossiter, Yi Zheng, Calista Cheung Offshoring has become an increasingly prominent aspect of the globalization process. Evidence over the past two decades suggests that offshoring has not exerted a noticeable impact on overall employment and earnings growth in advanced economies, but it has likely contributed to shifting the demand for labour towards higher-skilled jobs. There appear to be some positive effects of offshoring on productivity, but such effects differ by country. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
December 21, 2002 Exchange Rate Regimes in Emerging Markets Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2002-2003 Jeannine Bailliu, John Murray A series of major international financial crises in the 1990s, and the recent introduction of the euro, have renewed interest in alternative exchange rate systems. The choice of exchange rate regime is particularly relevant for emerging-market countries because other countries are perceived either as having no alternative to their current exchange rate arrangement or as highly unlikely to change. This article examines the evolution of exchange rate regimes in emerging markets over the past decade and compares the strengths and weaknesses of the various available systems. These include intermediate regimes, such as the adjustable pegged exchange rate popular throughout much of the post—war period, and the two extreme exchange rate regimes: permanently fixed or freely floating exchange rate regimes. Two recently proposed alternatives are also evaluated: the Managed Floating Plus and Baskets, Bands, and Crawling Pegs. Both try to combine the best elements of the flexible and fixed exchange rate systems, but the Managed Floating Plus is deemed to be the more promising alternative. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
Financial Inclusion—What’s it Worth? Staff working paper 2016-30 Miguel Ampudia, Michael Ehrmann The paper studies the determinants of being unbanked in the euro area and the United States as well as the effects of being unbanked on wealth accumulation. Based on household-level data from The Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption Survey and the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances, it first documents that there are, respectively, 3.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent of unbanked households in the two economies. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, G, G2, G21, G28 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
April 14, 2007 Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2007 Cover page Gas Cards All gas cards pictured here are part of the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
Why Fixed Costs Matter for Proof-of-Work Based Cryptocurrencies Staff working paper 2020-27 Rodney J. Garratt, Maarten van Oordt Can Bitcoin survive? Some say it will become vulnerable to attacks as the rewards for processing Bitcoin transactions continue to decline. The economics of fixed costs suggest the specialized hardware used to mine Bitcoin may be key to its survival. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, L, L1, L11 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech
May 15, 2001 www.bankofcanada.ca—The Bank on the World Wide Web Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2001 Brent Eades This article by the Bank's Web master details the development of the Bank's Web site and highlights some of its special features. It includes a description of dataBANK, a custom-built interface to the Bank's economic databases that gives visitors access to 220 data series. It also provides a mini tour of monetary policy material "on site," as well as a taste of things to come. Above all, this article invites you to come and visit our site. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles
June 21, 2006 Ownership Concentration and Competition in Banking Markets Financial System Review - June 2006 Alexandra Lai, Raphael Solomon Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles
May 13, 2014 Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 The five articles in this issue present research and analysis by Bank staff covering a variety of topics: the growth of Canadian-dollar-denominated assets in official foreign reserves; the emergence of platform-based digital currencies; methods of forecasting the real price of oil; measures of uncertainty in monetary policy; and the recent performance of the labour market in Canada and the United States. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review