Uncertain Costs and Vertical Differentiation in an Insurance Duopoly Staff Working Paper 2014-14 Radoslav Raykov Classical oligopoly models predict that firms differentiate vertically as a way of softening price competition, but some metrics suggest very little quality differentiation in the U.S. auto insurance market. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D4, D43, D8, D81, G, G2, G22, L, L2, L22
A Policy Model to Analyze Macroprudential Regulations and Monetary Policy Staff Working Paper 2014-6 Sami Alpanda, Gino Cateau, Césaire Meh We construct a small-open-economy, New Keynesian dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model with real-financial linkages to analyze the effects of financial shocks and macroprudential policies on the Canadian economy. Our model has four key features. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): E, E1, E17, E3, E32, E4, E44, F, F4, F41
Unemployment Fluctuations in a Small Open-Economy Model with Segmented Labour Markets: The Case of Canada Staff Working Paper 2013-40 Yahong Zhang The recent financial crisis and subsequent recession have spurred great interest in the sources of unemployment fluctuations. Previous studies predominantly assume a single economy-wide labour market, and therefore abstract from differences across sectorspecific labour markets in the economy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, J, J6
Some Economics of Private Digital Currency Staff Working Paper 2013-38 Joshua S. Gans, Hanna Halaburda This paper reviews some recent developments in digital currency, focusing on platform-sponsored currencies such as Facebook Credits. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Economic models, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D4, D42, E, E4, L, L5, L51
ToTEM II: An Updated Version of the Bank of Canada’s Quarterly Projection Model Technical Report No. 100 José Dorich, Michael K. Johnston, Rhys R. Mendes, Stephen Murchison, Yang Zhang This report provides a detailed technical description of an updated version of the Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM II), which replaced ToTEM (Murchison and Rennison 2006) in June 2011 as the Bank of Canada’s quarterly projection model for Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E1, E17, E2, E20, E3, E30, E4, E40, E5, E50, F, F4, F41
The Safety of Government Debt Staff Working Paper 2013-34 Kartik Anand, Prasanna Gai We examine the safety of government bonds in the presence of Knightian uncertainty amongst financial market participants. In our model, the information insensitivity of government bonds is driven by strategic complementarities across counterparties and the structure of trading relationships. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, International financial markets JEL Code(s): D, D8, D81, E, E4, E44, F, F0, F02, F4, F41, G, G1, G15
Housing and Tax Policy Staff Working Paper 2013-33 Sami Alpanda, Sarah Zubairy In this paper, we investigate the effects of housing-related tax policy measures on macroeconomic aggregates using a dynamic general-equilibrium model. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy, Housing JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, H, H2, H24, R, R3, R38
Analyzing Fiscal Sustainability Staff Working Paper 2013-27 Huixin Bi, Eric M. Leeper The authors study the implications of fiscal policy behaviour for sovereign risk in a framework that determines a country’s fiscal limit, the point at which, for economic or political reasons, taxes and spending can no longer adjust to stabilize debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, E65, H, H6, H63
Uncertain Fiscal Consolidations Staff Working Paper 2013-26 Huixin Bi, Eric M. Leeper, Campbell Leith The paper explores the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal consolidations whose timing and composition - either tax- or spending-based - are uncertain. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy, Monetary policy and uncertainty JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, E63, H, H3, H30, H6, H60
Business Cycle Effects of Credit Shocks in a DSGE Model with Firm Defaults Staff Working Paper 2013-19 M. Hashem Pesaran, TengTeng Xu This paper proposes a theoretical framework to analyze the relationship between credit shocks, firm defaults and volatility, and to study the impact of credit shocks on business cycle dynamics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credit and credit aggregates, Economic models, Financial institutions JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, E4, E44, G, G2, G21