A Stochastic Simulation Framework for the Government of Canada's Debt Strategy Staff Working Paper 2003-10 David Bolder Debt strategy is defined as the manner in which a government finances an excess of government expenditures over revenues and any maturing debt issued in previous periods. The author gives a thorough qualitative description of the complexities of debt strategy analysis and then demonstrates that it is, in fact, a problem in stochastic optimal control. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models JEL Code(s): C, C0, C1, C15, C5, C52, H, H6, H63
Comparing Alternative Output-Gap Estimators: A Monte Carlo Approach Staff Working Paper 2003-8 Andrew Rennison The author evaluates the ability of a variety of output-gap estimators to accurately measure the output gap in a model economy. A small estimated model of the Canadian economy is used to generate artificial data. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Potential output JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, E, E3, E32
Testing the Stability of the Canadian Phillips Curve Using Exact Methods Staff Working Paper 2003-7 Lynda Khalaf, Maral Kichian Postulating two different specifications for the Canadian Phillips curve (a purely backwardlooking model, and a partly backward-, partly forward-looking model), the authors test for structural breaks in the parameters of the equation. In each case, they account for the possibilities that: (i) breaks can be discrete, or continuous, and (ii) available data samples may be too small to justify using asymptotically valid structural-change tests. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, C5, C52, E, E3, E31, E37
Filtering for Current Analysis Staff Working Paper 2002-28 Simon van Norden This paper shows how existing band-pass filtering techniques and their extension can be applied to the common current-analysis problem of estimating current trends or cycles. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Potential output JEL Code(s): C, C1
Risk, Entropy, and the Transformation of Distributions Staff Working Paper 2002-11 Mark Reesor, Don McLeish The exponential family, relative entropy, and distortion are methods of transforming probability distributions. We establish a link between those methods, focusing on the relation between relative entropy and distortion. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C0, C1, D, D8, G, G0
An Introduction to Wavelets for Economists Staff Working Paper 2002-3 Christoph Schleicher Wavelets are mathematical expansions that transform data from the time domain into different layers of frequency levels. Compared to standard Fourier analysis, they have the advantage of being localized both in time and in the frequency domain, and enable the researcher to observe and analyze data at different scales. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1
A Consistent Bootstrap Test for Conditional Density Functions with Time-Dependent Data Staff Working Paper 2001-21 Fuchun Li, Greg Tkacz This paper describes a new test for evaluating conditional density functions that remains valid when the data are time-dependent and that is therefore applicable to forecasting problems. We show that the test statistic is asymptotically distributed standard normal under the null hypothesis, and diverges to infinity when the null hypothesis is false. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, C15, E, E3, E37
Evaluating Linear and Non-Linear Time-Varying Forecast-Combination Methods Staff Working Paper 2001-12 Fuchun Li, Greg Tkacz This paper evaluates linear and non-linear forecast-combination methods. Among the non-linear methods, we propose a nonparametric kernel-regression weighting approach that allows maximum flexibility of the weighting parameters. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C5, C53, E, E2, E27
Testing for a Structural Break in the Volatility of Real GDP Growth in Canada Staff Working Paper 2001-9 Alexandre Debs This study tests for a structural break in the volatility of real GDP growth in Canada following the methodology of McConnell and Quiros (1998). A break is found in the first quarter of 1991. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, E, E3, E32
Exact Non-Parametric Tests for a Random Walk with Unknown Drift under Conditional Heteroscedasticity Staff Working Paper 2001-2 Richard Luger This paper proposes a class of linear signed rank statistics to test for a random walk with unknown drift in the presence of arbitrary forms of conditional heteroscedasticity. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C12, C2, C22