An Econometric Examination of the Trend Unemployment Rate in Canada Staff Working Paper 1996-7 Denise Côté, Doug Hostland This paper attempts to identify the trend unemployment rate, an empirical concept, using cointegration theory. The authors examine whether there is a cointegrating relationship between the observed unemployment rate and various structural factors, focussing neither on the non-accelerating-inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) nor on the natural rate of unemployment, but rather on the trend unemployment rate, which they define in terms of cointegration. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24
Wealth, Disposable Income and Consumption: Some Evidence for Canada Technical Report No. 71 Tiff Macklem The author develops a measure of aggregate private sector wealth in Canada and examines its ability to explain aggregate consumption of non-durables and services. This wealth measure includes financial, physical and human wealth. The author measures human wealth as the expected present value of aggregate labour income, net of government expenditures, based on a discrete […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Domestic demand and components JEL Code(s): D, D9, D91, E, E2, E21
A Simple Multivariate Filter for the Measurement of Potential Output Technical Report No. 59 Douglas Laxton, Robert Tetlow This paper examines techniques that have been used to estimate potential output and finds them wanting. We suggest a simple multivariate-filtering technique that is a generalization of the Hodrick-Prescott univariate filter. In univariate filters, only information about a variable itself is used in eliminating noise in order to obtain an estimate of the underlying trend. […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Potential output JEL Code(s): C, C1, C15, E, E2
Wage and Price Dynamics in Canada Technical Report No. 56 Barry Cozier This paper examines wage and price dynamics in Canada with a view towards testing the implications of a wage-price dynamics, according to which unit labour costs are determined by a wage Phillips curve while prices are set as a markup over unit labour costs. This model is compared to an alternative model in which excess […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, C52, E, E2, E24, E3, E31
Some Evidence on Hysteresis and the Costs of Disinflation in Canada Technical Report No. 55 Barry Cozier, Gordon Wilkinson This paper addresses the following questions: How large are the output costs of disinflation in Canada? Are these costs temporary, as predicted by natural-rate models, or are they permanent, as predicted by hysteresis models? Are the costs of disinflation higher at lower rates of inflation? Are they higher when the economy is at or below […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E31
Regional Disparities in Wage and Unemployment Rates in Canada: A Review of Some Issues Technical Report No. 51 Kathleen Day In this report the author considers three issues relating to regional disparities in Canada. First, the size of regional disparities in unemployment and wage rates is examined together with the patterns in these disparities over time. Next, various theories related to the causes of regional disparities are reviewed, focussing on their predictions regarding regional disparities […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Labour markets, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24
The NAIRU in Canada: Concepts, Determinants and Estimates Technical Report No. 50 David Rose An important question that faces macroeconomic policy makers is whether the economy can absorb increases in aggregate demand without generating inflationary pressures. Many economists have found it useful to approach this issue by asking whether the economy is operating at a rate of unemployment consistent with inflation neither accelerating nor decelerating, all else being equal. […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24
The Investment Supply Response of Traded-Goods Industries Technical Report No. 37 Paul Boothe In this paper, the author uses neoclassical investment equations to examine investment behaviour in four groups of Canadian industries: export-oriented, import-competing, two- way-trade, and low-trade. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Balance of payments and components JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22