Entrepreneurship, Inequality, and Taxation Staff Working Paper 2002-14 Césaire Meh This paper confirms the conjecture that the evaluation of tax policy leads to very different conclusions once the role of entrepreneurs is considered. Contrary to previous literature, the author finds that switching from a progressive to a proportional income tax system has a negligible effect on wealth inequality in the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E6, E62, H, H2, H20, H23
Inventories, Markups and Real Rigidities in Sticky Price Models of the Canadian Economy Staff Working Paper 2011-9 Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Virgiliu Midrigan Recent New Keynesian models of macroeconomy view nominal cost rigidities, rather than nominal price rigidities, as the key feature that accounts for the observed persistence in output and inflation. Kryvtsov and Midrigan (2010a,b) reassess these conclusions by combining a theory based on nominal rigidities and storable goods with direct evidence on inventories for the U.S. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, F, F1, F12
A Structural VAR Approach to Core Inflation in Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2008-10 Sylvain Martel The author constructs a measure of core inflation using a structural vector autoregression containing oil-price growth, output growth, and inflation. This "macro-founded" measure of inflation forecasts total inflation at least as well as other, atheoretical measures. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E31
Market Structure and Cost Pass-Through in Retail Staff Working Paper 2013-5 Gee Hee Hong, Nicholas Li We examine the extent to which vertical and horizontal market structure can together explain incomplete retail pass-through. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E30, E31, L, L1, L11, L16
An Empirical Analysis of the Canadian Term Structure of Zero-Coupon Interest Rates Staff Working Paper 2004-48 David Bolder, Adam Metzler, Grahame Johnson Zero-coupon interest rates are the fundamental building block of fixed-income mathematics, and as such have an extensive number of applications in both finance and economics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1
Can Media and Text Analytics Provide Insights into Labour Market Conditions in China? Staff Working Paper 2018-12 Jeannine Bailliu, Xinfen Han, Mark Kruger, Yu-Hsien Liu, Sri Thanabalasingam The official Chinese labour market indicators have been seen as problematic, given their small cyclical movement and their only-partial capture of the labour force. In our paper, we build a monthly Chinese labour market conditions index (LMCI) using text analytics applied to mainland Chinese-language newspapers over the period from 2003 to 2017. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics, Labour markets JEL Code(s): C, C3, C38, C5, C55, E, E2, E24, E27
April 8, 2009 Price-Level Targeting and Stabilization Policy: A Review Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2009 Steve Ambler This article reviews arguments in the literature for and against price-level targeting, focusing on its costs and benefits compared with inflation targeting. Benefits of price-level targeting include the effect on forward-looking inflation expectations; the ability to substitute for commitment by a central bank to its future policies; lessening forecast errors; better economic performance in response to real shocks because of lower wage indexation; and a reduction in the problem of the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework
The Commodity-Price Cycle and Regional Economic Performance in Canada Staff Working Paper 1996-12 Mario Lefebvre, Stephen S. Poloz This paper attempts to provide one interpretation of the broad regional economic history of Canada since the early 1970s. As the title of the paper suggests, we believe that, to a significant degree, regional diversity in economic performance reflects movements in Canada's terms of trade, which very frequently are tied to developments in world commodity markets. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32
June 9, 2010 Crude Oil Futures: A Crystal Ball? Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2010 Ron Alquist, Elif Arbatli Based on recent research, this article discusses three ways that oil-futures prices can improve our understanding of current conditions and future prospects in the global market for crude oil. First, the response of the oil-futures curve can be used to identify the persistence of oil-price shocks and to obtain an indicator of the rate at which they will diminish. Second, the spread between the current futures price and the spot price of oil can be interpreted as an indicator of the precautionary demand for oil. Third, because oil-futures prices are volatile, forecasts of the future spot price of oil using futures prices should be supplemented with other information to improve their accuracy. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Market structure and pricing
Monetary Policy and Government Debt Dynamics Without Commitment Staff Working Paper 2019-52 Dmitry Matveev I show that maturity considerations affect the optimal conduct of monetary and fiscal policy during a period of government debt reduction. I consider a New Keynesian model and study a dynamic game of monetary and fiscal policy authorities without commitment, characterizing the incentives that drive the choice of interest rate. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Fiscal policy, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E6, E62, E63