2024 Methods-of-Payment Survey Report: Cash in an Era of Alternatives Staff discussion paper 2025-12 Marie-Hélène Felt, Anna Chernesky, Angelika Welte We present core findings from the 2024 Methods-of-Payment Survey, highlighting results from both the survey questionnaire and three-day shopping diary. Although cash holdings have increased in nominal terms, we find that cash usage remains unchanged since 2020. Mobile and other alternative payment methods continue to grow in importance. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E4, E41 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Retail payments
Firm Heterogeneity and Adverse Selection in External Finance: Micro Evidence and Macro Implications Staff working paper 2025-20 Xing Guo, Pablo Ottonello, Thomas Winberry, Toni Whited We develop a heterogeneous firm macro model with private information and quantify the aggregate relevance of asymmetric information. We find that a spike in private information account for 40% of the decline in aggregate investment during the 2007-2009 financial crisis and made monetary stimulus significantly less effective. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, E, E2, E22, E3, E32, E5, E52, G, G3, G30 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission
Synthesizing Signals from the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations Staff discussion paper 2025-11 Jacob Dolinar, Patrick Sabourin, Matt West We introduce the Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations indicator. This indicator provides a summary measure of consumer opinions that we can track over time. We construct three underlying sub-indexes—financial health, labour market and consumer spending—that capture different factors influencing consumers’ daily lives. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D8, D84, E, E2, E21, E3, E32, E7, E71 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply
How will mortgage payments change at renewal? An updated analysis Staff analytical note 2025-21 Claudia Godbout, Adam Su, Yang Xu We update an assessment of potential changes in payments that mortgage holders could face at renewal in 2025 and 2026. We use an enhanced dataset (RESL2) that provides a more accurate starting point for mortgage balances. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, D14, G, G2, G21, G28, R, R2, R20 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit
The impact of trading flows on Government of Canada bond prices Staff analytical note 2025-20 Andreas Uthemann, Rishi Vala, Jun Yang Trading flows affect Government of Canada bond prices. Our estimates suggest a sale of 1% of the available supply of bonds typically lowers bond prices by 0.2%. From 2000 to 2025, demand from institutional investors, such as Canadian pension funds and foreign investors, explains 69% of quarterly price variation, with the remainder explained by changes in the supply of bonds. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes JEL Code(s): C, C0, C01, C3, C36, C5, C58, D, D5, D53, E, E6, E62, G, G1, G11, G12, G2, G23 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk
Examining the Links Between Firm Performance and Insolvency Staff discussion paper 2025-10 Dylan Hogg, Hossein Hosseini Jebeli Assessing insolvency dynamics is essential for evaluating the financial health of non-financial corporations and mitigating macroeconomic and financial stability risks. This study leverages a newly created Statistics Canada dataset linking insolvency records with firm-level financial data to develop a robust framework for monitoring insolvency risk Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, G, G3, G33, L, L2, L20 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Household and business credit, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods
Incorporating Trip-Chaining to Measuring Canadians’ Access to Cash Staff working paper 2025-16 Heng Chen, Hongyu Xiao Our paper employs smartphone data to construct an improved cash access metric by accounting for both spatial agglomeration and households’ travel patterns. We find that incorporating trip-chaining into the travel metric could show that travel costs are from 15 to 25% less than not incorporating trip-chaining and that the biggest decrease is driven by rural residents. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, O, O1, O18, R, R2, R22, R4, R41 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes
Are Hedge Funds a Hedge for Increasing Government Debt Issuance? Staff discussion paper 2025-7 Adam Epp, Jeffrey Gao This paper studies the rapid increase since 2019 of Government of Canada (GoC) debt issuance alongside greater hedge fund participation at GoC bond auctions. We find a systematic relationship between GoC debt stock and hedge fund bidding shares at auction. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44, G, G1, G12, G2, G23, H, H6, H63 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, Financial system, Financial institutions and intermediation, Financial stability and systemic risk
Liquidation Mechanisms and Price Impacts in DeFi Staff working paper 2025-12 Phoebe Tian, Yu Zhu This paper theoretically and empirically examines the price impacts of liquidations in DeFi and how different liquidation mechanisms affect the price impacts. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D4, D44, D47, G, G2, G20, G3, G33 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market functioning, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech
Estimating Discrete Choice Demand Models with Sparse Market-Product Shocks Staff working paper 2025-10 Zhentong Lu, Kenichi Shimizu We propose a novel approach to estimating consumer demand for differentiated products. We eliminate the need for instrumental variables by assuming demand shocks are sparse. Our empirical applications reveal strong evidence of sparsity in real-world datasets. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C3, D, D1, L, L0, L00 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods