November 19, 2015 Recent Enhancements to the Management of Canada’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2015 Mervin Merkowsky, Eric Wolfe As the size and complexity of the foreign exchange reserves have grown over the years, enhancements to the management framework needed to keep pace. This is a common theme for most reserve managers around the world. In Canada, the enhancements focused on governance, portfolio management, risk measurement and risk management. This article briefly describes these enhancements, why they were implemented and some of the lessons learned along the way. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Foreign reserves management, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, F, F3, F31, G, G1
Reputational Risk Management in Central Banks Staff Discussion Paper 2015-16 Jill Vardy This paper discusses reputational risk in the context of central banking and explains why it matters to central banks. It begins with a general discussion of reputational risk within the broader framework of risk management. Content Type(s): Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Credibility, International topics, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58
Forward Guidance at the Effective Lower Bound: International Experience Staff Discussion Paper 2015-15 Karyne B. Charbonneau, Lori Rennison Forward guidance is one of the policy tools that a central bank can implement if it seeks to provide additional monetary stimulus when it is operating at the effective lower bound (ELB) on interest rates. It became more widely used during and after the global financial crisis. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy communications, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E5, E52, E58, E6
Quantitative Easing as a Policy Tool Under the Effective Lower Bound Staff Discussion Paper 2015-14 Abeer Reza, Eric Santor, Lena Suchanek This paper summarizes the international evidence on the performance of quantitative easing (QE) as a monetary policy tool when conventional policy rates are constrained by the effective lower bound (ELB). A large body of evidence suggests that expanding the central bank’s balance sheet through large-scale asset purchases can provide effective stimulus under the ELB. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Central bank research, International topics, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E61, E65, N, N1, N10
Monetary Policy and Financial Stability: Cross-Country Evidence Staff Working Paper 2015-41 Christian Friedrich, Kristina Hess, Rose Cunningham Central banks may face challenges in achieving their price stability goals when financial stability risks are present. There is, however, considerable heterogeneity among central banks with respect to how they manage these potential trade-offs. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial stability, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E5, G, G0, G01
Credit Conditions and Consumption, House Prices and Debt: What Makes Canada Different? Staff Working Paper 2015-40 John Muellbauer, Pierre St-Amant, David Williams There is widespread agreement that, in the United States, higher house prices raise consumption via collateral or possibly wealth effects. The presence of similar channels in Canada would have important implications for monetary policy transmission. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Domestic demand and components, Economic models, Financial institutions, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Housing, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E0, E02, E2, E21, E4, E44, G, G2, G21, R, R2, R21, R3, R31
The International Experience with Negative Policy Rates Staff Discussion Paper 2015-13 Harriet Jackson A key issue in the renewal of the inflation-control agreement is the question of the appropriate level of the inflation target. Many observers have raised concerns that with the reduction in the neutral rate, and the experience of the recent financial crisis, the effective lower bound (ELB) is more likely to be binding in the future if inflation targets remain at 2 per cent. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Financial markets, International topics, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, E6, E65
Nowcasting BRIC+M in Real Time Staff Working Paper 2015-38 Tatjana Dahlhaus, Justin-Damien Guénette, Garima Vasishtha Emerging-market economies have become increasingly important in driving global GDP growth over the past 10 to 15 years. This has made timely and accurate assessment of current and future economic activity in emerging markets important for policy-makers not only in these countries but also in advanced economies. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C3, C33, C5, C53, E, E3, E37
A Comprehensive Evaluation of Measures of Core Inflation for Canada Staff Discussion Paper 2015-12 Mikael Khan, Louis Morel, Patrick Sabourin This paper evaluates the usefulness of various measures of core inflation for the conduct of monetary policy. Traditional exclusion-based measures of core inflation are found to perform relatively poorly across a range of evaluation criteria, in part due to their inability to filter unanticipated transitory shocks. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52
Exchange Rate Pass-Through to Consumer Prices: Theory and Recent Evidence Staff Discussion Paper 2015-9 Laurence Savoie-Chabot, Mikael Khan In an open economy such as Canada’s, exchange rate movements can have a material impact on consumer prices. This is particularly important in the current context, with the significant depreciation of the Canadian dollar vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar since late 2012. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation and prices JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, F, F3, F31