Why Do Central Banks Smooth Interest Rates? Staff Working Paper 2001-17 Gabriel Srour It is commonly observed that central banks respond gradually to economic shocks, moving the interest rate in small discrete steps in the same direction over an extended period of time. This paper examines the empirical evidence regarding central banks' smoothing of interest rates, paying particular attention to the case of Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5
Real Return Bonds, Inflation Expectations, and the Break-Even Inflation Rate Staff Working Paper 2004-43 Ian Christensen, Christopher Reid, Frédéric Dion According to the Fisher hypothesis, the gap between Canadian nominal and Real Return Bond yields (or break-even inflation rate) should be a good measure of inflation expectations. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E4, E43
The Effect of Adjustment Costs and Organizational Change on Productivity in Canada: Evidence from Aggregate Data Staff Working Paper 2004-1 Danny Leung A basic neoclassical model of production is often used to assess the contribution of investment to output growth. In the model, investment raises the capital stock and output growth increases in proportion to the growth in capital. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Productivity JEL Code(s): O, O3, O31, O4, O49
Noisy Monetary Policy Staff Working Paper 2018-23 Tatjana Dahlhaus, Luca Gambetti We introduce limited information in monetary policy. Agents receive signals from the central bank revealing new information (“news") about the future evolution of the policy rate before changes in the rate actually take place. However, the signal is disturbed by noise. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): C, C1, C18, C3, C32, E, E0, E02, E4, E43, E5, E52
August 18, 2011 Developing a Medium-Term Debt-Management Strategy for the Government of Canada Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2011 Marc Larson, Étienne Lessard As the Government of Canada’s fiscal agent, the Bank of Canada provides strategic policy advice on the management of the government’s debt, in addition to being responsible for conducting debt-management operations. In this article, the authors review the evolution of the debt strategy over the past 20 years and outline the complex process of developing a sound strategy that balances various cost and risk considerations. This includes an examination of the tools and practices used to develop the new medium-term debt-management strategy, such as the modelling approach involved, market consultations and various debt-management metrics. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Debt management, Economic models
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 Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, L, L1, L11
Evaluating the portfolio balance effects of the Government of Canada Bond Purchase Program on the Canadian yield curve Staff Analytical Note 2024-22 Antonio Diez de los Rios The Bank of Canada’s Government of Canada Bond Purchase Program, launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, lowered the weighted average maturity of the Government of Canada’s debt by approximately 1.4 years. This in turn reduced Canadian 10-year and 5-year zero-coupon yields by 84 and 52 basis points, respectively. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Asset pricing, Central bank research, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Interest rates, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E5, E52, G, G1, G12, H, H6, H63
The Empirical Performance of Alternative Monetary and Liquidity Aggregates Staff Working Paper 1995-12 Joseph Atta-Mensah This paper examines the empirical performance of alternatives to the monetary aggregates currently published by the Bank of Canada. The results show that real M1 and real M1a perform about equally well in providing leading information about real output at short horizons. However, on theoretical grounds, M1a is a more attractive aggregate, since it excludes […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Monetary and financial indicators
The Quantity of Money and Monetary Policy Staff Working Paper 1999-5 David Laidler The relationships among the quantity theory of money, monetarism and policy regimes based on money-growth and inflation targeting are briefly discussed as a prelude to an exposition of alternative views of money's role in the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. The passive-money view treats the money supply as an endogenous variable that plays no role […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Monetary aggregates, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E51, E52
Heterogeneous Beliefs and Housing-Market Boom-Bust Cycles in a Small Open Economy Staff Working Paper 2009-15 Hajime Tomura This paper introduces heterogeneous beliefs among households in a small open economy model for the Canadian economy. The model suggests that simultaneous boom-bust cycles in house prices, output, investment, consumption and hours worked emerge when credit-constrained mortgage borrowers expect that future house prices will rise and this expectation is neither shared by savers nor realized ex-post. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial stability, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E5, E52