The 2021–22 Merchant Acceptance Survey Pilot Study Staff Discussion Paper 2023-1 Angelika Welte, Joy Wu The rise in digital payment innovations has spurred a discussion about the future of cash at the point of sale. The Bank conducted the 2021–22 Merchant Acceptance Survey Pilot Study to study trends in merchant cash acceptance and monitor conditions for the potential issuance of a central bank digital currency. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C8, D, D2, D22, E, E4, L, L2
Potential benefits and key risks of fiat-referenced cryptoassets Staff Analytical Note 2022-20 Hugh Ding, Natasha Khan, Bena Lands, Cameron MacDonald, Laura Zhao Cryptoassets that reference a national currency (commonly known as stablecoins) aim to peg their value to the reference currency and typically use a reserve of traditional financial assets to maintain the peg. The market value of these fiat-referenced cryptoassets has grown more than thirtyfold between early 2020 and mid-2022. We explore some of their potential benefits and key risks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, G, G2, G28, L, O, O3
PayTech and the D(ata) N(etwork) A(ctivities) of BigTech Platforms Staff Working Paper 2022-35 Jonathan Chiu, Thorsten Koeppl Why do BigTech platforms introduce payment services? We explore this using a model in which a monopoly platform faces a trade-off between the costs associated with privacy concerns and the revenue from data services. We then analyze the feedback effects between data and payments. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): D, D8, E, E4, E42, L, L1
Fixed-income dealing and central bank interventions Staff Analytical Note 2022-9 David Cimon, Adrian Walton We summarize the theoretical model of central bank asset purchases developed in Cimon and Walton (2022). The model helps us understand how asset purchases ease pressures on investment dealers to restore market conditions in a crisis. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G2, G20, L, L1, L10
Addictive Platforms Staff Working Paper 2022-16 Shota Ichihashi, Byung-Cheol Kim We study competition for consumer attention, in which platforms can sacrifice service quality for attention. A platform can choose the “addictiveness” of its service. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D4, D40, L, L5, L51
Equilibrium in Two-Sided Markets for Payments: Consumer Awareness and the Welfare Cost of the Interchange Fee Staff Working Paper 2022-15 Kim Huynh, Gradon Nicholls, Oleksandr Shcherbakov We construct and estimate a structural two-stage model of equilibrium in a market for payments in order to quantify the network externalities and identify the main determinants of consumer and merchant decisions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Bank notes, Digital currencies and fintech, Econometric and statistical methods, Financial services JEL Code(s): C, C5, C51, D, D1, D12, E, E4, E42, L, L1, L14
Vertical Bargaining and Obfuscation Staff Working Paper 2022-13 Edona Reshidi Is obscuring prices always bad for consumers? The answer depends on the market structure and on the negotiating power between manufacturers and retailers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C7, C70, L, L1, L13, L4, L42
Central Bank Liquidity Facilities and Market Making Staff Working Paper 2022-9 David Cimon, Adrian Walton We create a theoretical model of central bank asset purchases. The model helps explain how, in a crisis, these purchases ease pressures on investment dealers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G10, G2, G20, L, L1, L10
Rising US LNG Exports and Global Natural Gas Price Convergence Staff Discussion Paper 2021-14 Robert Ialenti We assess how rising exports of US liquefied natural gas affect the convergence of natural gas prices worldwide. Our results may have implications for the development of future LNG export capacity in Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): International topics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C3, C32, F, F1, F15, K, K4, K41, L, L9, L95
Measuring the Effectiveness of Salespeople: Evidence from a Cold-Drink Market Staff Working Paper 2021-40 Haofeng Jin, Zhentong Lu Salespeople are widely employed in many industries. We leverage a unique data set on retail sales from a leading Chinese cold-drink manufacturer and information on the firm’s salespeople assignment rule to measure the causal effect of salespeople on product revenue. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Service sector JEL Code(s): L, L8, L81, M, M3, M5