June 11, 2006 Evaluating Measures of Core Inflation Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2006 Thérèse Laflèche, Jamie Armour Since the Bank of Canada adopted inflation targeting in 1991, it has focused on a measure of core inflation as a shorter-term guide for monetary policy. When the targets were renewed in 2001, the Bank adopted CPIX as its measure of core inflation because of the advantages it offered. Leflèche and Armour review the experience with CPIX and whether the criteria used to select it in 2001 still favour the measure today. They describe the various measures of core inflation monitored by the Bank and evaluate them on the basis of the volatility of the components, the volatility of the core measures themselves, absence of bias relative to total CPI, predictive power, and certain practical criteria, including timeliness and credibility. They conclude that CPIX still satisfies all the empirical and practical criteria. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework
June 2, 2006 Another Look at the Inflation-Target Horizon Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2006 Donald Coletti, Jack Selody, Carolyn A. Wilkins The conduct of monetary policy within an inflation-targeting framework requires the establishment of an inflation-target horizon, which is the average time it takes inflation to return to the target. Policy-makers have an interest in communicating this horizon, since it is likely to help anchor inflation expectations. This article focuses on the determination of the appropriate policy horizon by reporting on two recent Bank of Canada studies. The evidence suggests that the current target horizon of six to eight quarters remains appropriate. It is important to note that the duration of the optimal inflation-target horizon varies widely, depending on the combination of shocks to the economy. In rare cases when the financial accelerator is triggered by a persistent shock, such as an asset-price bubble, it may be appropriate to take a longer view of the inflation-target horizon. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission
April 15, 2006 Issues in Inflation Targeting: A Summary of the Bank of Canada Conference Held 28-29 April 2005 Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2006 Robert Amano, Raphael Solomon The Bank of Canada's 2005 conference focused on two critical issues: price-level targets versus inflation targets, and the appropriate level of inflation. Session topics included new methodological approaches to examining the validity of the New Keynesian Phillips curve for Canada; the monetary policy implications of border effects and the financial-accelerator model; the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates; and inflation and welfare in general-equilibrium macroeconomic models. A panel of invited speakers discussed the issues of each session, and two distinguished speakers gave their perspectives on inflation. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework
The Welfare Implications of Inflation versus Price-Level Targeting in a Two-Sector, Small Open Economy Staff Working Paper 2006-12 Eva Ortega, Nooman Rebei The authors analyze the welfare implications of simple monetary policy rules in the context of an estimated model of a small open economy for Canada with traded and non-traded goods, and with sticky prices and wages. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Exchange rates, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52
The 1975–78 Anti-Inflation Program in Retrospect Staff Working Paper 2005-43 John Sargent The author provides an overview of the 1975–78 Anti-Inflation Program (AIP), in a background document prepared for a seminar organized by the Bank of Canada to mark the AIP's 30th anniversary. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credibility, Fiscal policy, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E6, E63, E64, E65
Measurement Bias in the Canadian Consumer Price Index Staff Working Paper 2005-39 James Rossiter The consumer price index (CPI) is the most commonly used measure of inflation in Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52
The Exchange Rate and Canadian Inflation Targeting Staff Working Paper 2005-34 Christopher Ragan The author provides a non-technical explanation of the role played by the exchange rate in Canada's inflation-targeting monetary policy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation targets, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5, E50, E52, F, F4, F41
October 5, 2005 The Exchange Rate and Canadian Inflation Targeting Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2005 Christopher Ragan An essential element of the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting framework is a floating exchange rate that is free to adjust in response to shocks that affect the Canadian and world economies. This floating rate plays an important role in the transmission mechanism for monetary policy. A practical question is how the Bank of Canada incorporates currency movements into the monetary policy decision-making process. Only after determining the cause and persistence of exchange rate change, and its likely net effect on aggregate demand, can the Bank decide on the appropriate policy response to keep inflation low, stable, and predictable. Ragan reviews the need to target inflation and the transmission mechanism for monetary policy, including the role of the exchange rate, before describing two types of exchange rate movements and their implications for monetary policy. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation targets, Monetary policy implementation
November 24, 2004 Asset Prices and Monetary Policy: A Canadian Perspective on the Issues Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2004 Jack Selody, Carolyn A. Wilkins The issue addressed in this article is the extent to which monetary policy in Canada should respond to asset-price bubbles. The article concludes that maintaining low and stable consumer price inflation is the best contribution that monetary policy can make to promoting economic and financial stability, even when the economy experiences asset-price bubbles. In extreme circumstances—when an asset-price bubble is well identified and likely to have significant costs to the economy when it bursts—monetary policy might better maintain low and stable consumer price inflation by leaning against a particular bubble even though it may mean that inflation deviates temporarily from its target. Such a strategy might reduce the risk that a crash in asset prices could lead to a recession and to inflation markedly below target in the longer run. The circumstances where this strategy is possible will be rare because economists are far from being able to determine consistently and reliably when leaning against a particular bubble is likely to do more harm than good. Housing-price bubbles should be a greater concern for Canadian monetary policy than equity-price bubbles, since rising housing prices are more likely to reflect excessively easy domestic credit conditions than are equity prices, which are largely determined in global markets. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy framework
The Implications of Transmission and Information Lags for the Stabilization Bias and Optimal Delegation Staff Working Paper 2004-37 Jean-Paul Lam, Florian Pelgrin In two recent papers, Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003), using a hybrid New Keynesian model, demonstrate that a regime that targets either nominal income growth or the change in the output gap can effectively replicate the outcome under commitment and hence reduce the size of the stabilization bias. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E62