Welfare Analysis of Equilibria With and Without Early Termination Fees in the US Wireless Industry Staff Working Paper 2020-9 Joseph Cullen, Nicolas Schutz, Oleksandr Shcherbakov The elimination of long-term contracts and early termination fees (ETFs) in the US wireless industry at the end of 2015 increased monthly service fees by 2 to 5 percent. Nevertheless, consumers are clearly better off without ETFs. While firms’ revenues from ETFs vanish, their profits from monthly fees increase. As a result, the overall effect on producer profits is less clear. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Firm dynamics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, L, L1, L15, L9, L96
Identifying Consumer-Welfare Changes when Online Search Platforms Change Their List of Search Results Staff Working Paper 2020-5 Ryan Martin Online shopping is often guided by search platforms. Consumers type keywords into query boxes, and search platforms deliver a list of products. Consumers' attention is limited, and exhaustive searches are often impractical. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, D, D1, D11, D12, D6, D8, D83, L, L4, L40
A Spatial Model of Bank Branches in Canada Staff Working Paper 2020-4 Heng Chen, Matthew Strathearn Using data on bank branch locations across Canada from 2008 to 2018, we explore an interesting aspect of bank branch competition—geographic concentration. We find that bank branch density does not correlate with geographic and market concentration; however, we do find strong correlation with postal-code demographics. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): L, L1, R, R3
Contagion in Dealer Networks Staff Working Paper 2020-1 Jean-Sébastien Fontaine, Adrian Walton Dealers connect investors who want to buy or sell securities in financial markets. Over time, dealers and investors form trading networks to save time and resources. An emerging field of research investigates how networks form. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Financial markets, Market structure and pricing, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E4, G, G1, G2, G21, L, L1, L14
November 19, 2019 Climate change is a big issue for central banks Erik Ens, Adrian Guerin Climate change is transforming the economy and financial system Content Type(s): Publications, The Economy, Plain and Simple Research Topic(s): Asset pricing, Climate change, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy and uncertainty
Canadian Securities Lending Market Ecology Staff Discussion Paper 2019-5 Jesse Johal, Joanna Roberts, John Sim This is the fourth of the Financial Markets Department’s descriptions of Canadian financial industrial organization. The paper discusses the organization of the securities lending market in Canada. We outline key characteristics of securities lending contracts, participants in the securities lending market, the market infrastructures that support securities lending activities, and aggregated statistics describing the Canadian market. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G18, G2, G21, G23
Bank Market Power and Central Bank Digital Currency: Theory and Quantitative Assessment Staff Working Paper 2019-20 Jonathan Chiu, Mohammad Davoodalhosseini, Janet Hua Jiang, Yu Zhu We show that issuing a deposit-like central bank digital currency (CBDC) with a proper interest rate would encourage banks to pay higher interest to keep their customers. Banks would then attract more deposits and offer more loans. Hence, a CBDC would not necessarily crowd out private banking. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Digital currencies and fintech, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E50, E58
April 8, 2019 Why Do Central Banks Care About Market Power? Presentation Carolyn A. Wilkins G7 conference hosted by Banque de France Paris, France Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn A. Wilkins discusses how the competitive landscape and digitalization affect monetary policy and why central banks care about market power. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Presentations Research Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Inflation and prices, Labour markets, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy transmission, Potential output, Productivity, Service sector
Inference in Games Without Nash Equilibrium: An Application to Restaurants’ Competition in Opening Hours Staff Working Paper 2018-60 Erhao Xie This paper relaxes the Bayesian Nash equilibrium (BNE) assumption commonly imposed in empirical discrete choice games with incomplete information. Instead of assuming that players have unbiased/correct expectations, my model treats a player’s belief about the behavior of other players as an unrestricted unknown function. I study the joint identification of belief and payoff functions. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): C, C5, C57, L, L1, L13, L8, L85
Alternative Futures for Government of Canada Debt Management Staff Discussion Paper 2018-15 Corey Garriott, Sophie Lefebvre, Guillaume Nolin, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Adrian Walton This paper presents four blue-sky ideas for lowering the cost of the Government of Canada’s debt without increasing the debt’s risk profile. We argue that each idea would improve the secondary-market liquidity of government debt, thereby increasing the demand for government bonds and thus lowering their cost at issuance. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G2, G24, H, H6, H63