A Bitcoin Standard: Lessons from the Gold Standard Staff working paper 2016-14 Warren E. Weber This paper imagines a world in which countries are on the Bitcoin standard, a monetary system in which all media of exchange are Bitcoin or are backed by it. The paper explores the similarities and differences between the Bitcoin standard and the gold standard and describes the media of exchange that would exist under the Bitcoin standard. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E4, E41, E42, E5, E58 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, International markets and currencies, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Money and payments, Digital assets and fintech
Wait a Minute: The Efficacy of Discounting versus Non-Pecuniary Payment Steering Staff working paper 2016-8 Angelika Welte Merchants who accept credit cards face payment processing fees. In most countries, the no-surcharge rule prohibits them from using surcharges to pass these fees on to customers. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E5, E58, G, G2, G28 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Market structure, Money and payments, Retail payments
Understanding Firms’ Inflation Expectations Using the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey Staff working paper 2016-7 Simon Richards, Matthieu Verstraete Inflation expectations are a key determinant of actual and future inflation and thus matter for the conduct of monetary policy. We study how firms form their inflation expectations using quarterly firm-level data from the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey, spanning the 2001 to 2015 period. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C2, C25, D, D2, D21, D8, D84, E, E3, E31, E5, E52, E58 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Monetary policy framework and transmission
Macroeconomic Uncertainty Through the Lens of Professional Forecasters Staff working paper 2016-5 Soojin Jo, Rodrigo Sekkel We analyze the evolution of macroeconomic uncertainty in the United States, based on the forecast errors of consensus survey forecasts of different economic indicators. Comprehensive information contained in the survey forecasts enables us to capture a real-time subjective measure of uncertainty in a simple framework. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): C, C3, C38, E, E1, E17, E3, E32 Research Theme(s): Models and tools, Econometric, statistical and computational methods, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Monetary Commitment and the Level of Public Debt Staff working paper 2016-3 Stefano Gnocchi, Luisa Lambertini We analyze the interaction between committed monetary policy and discretionary fiscal policy in a model with public debt, endogenous government expenditures, distortive taxation and nominal rigidities. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E32, E5, E52 Research Theme(s): Financial markets and funds management, Funds management, Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Monetary policy, Monetary policy framework and transmission, Monetary policy tools and implementation
What Is Behind the Weakness in Global Investment? Staff discussion paper 2016-5 Maxime Leboeuf, Robert Fay The recovery in private business investment globally remains extremely weak more than seven years after the financial crisis. This paper contributes to the ongoing policy debate on the factors behind this weakness by analyzing the role of growth prospects and uncertainty in explaining developments in non-residential private business investment in large advanced economies since the crisis. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C2, C23, C3, C33, D, D2, D24, D8, D80, D84, E, E2, E22, F, F0, F01, G, G3, G31 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Economic models, Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting
New Housing Registrations as a Leading Indicator of the BC Economy Staff discussion paper 2016-3 Calista Cheung, Dmitry Granovsky Housing starts and building permits data are commonly used as leading indicators of economic activity. In British Columbia, all new homes must be registered with the Homeowner Protection Office, a branch of BC Housing, before the issuance of building permits and the start of construction. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): C, C1, C13, C5, C53, E, E3, E32, E37 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Household and business credit, Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting
Agency Costs, Risk Shocks and International Cycles Staff working paper 2016-2 Marc-André Letendre, Joel Wagner We add agency costs as in Carlstrom and Fuerst (1997) into a two-country, two-good international business-cycle model. In our model, changes in the relative price of investment arise endogenously. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E22, E3, E32, E4, E44, F, F4, F44 Research Theme(s): Financial system, Financial stability and systemic risk, Models and tools, Economic models, Structural challenges, International trade, finance and competitiveness
Reconciling the Differences in Aggregate U.S. Wage Series Staff working paper 2016-1 Julien Champagne, André Kurmann, Jay Stewart Average hourly real wage series from the Labor Productivity and Costs (LPC) program and the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program have evolved very differently over the past decades. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers JEL Code(s): E, E0, E01, E2, E24, E3, E30, J, J3, J30 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Inflation dynamics and pressures, Real economy and forecasting
Extending the Labour Market Indicator to the Canadian Provinces Staff discussion paper 2016-2 Alexander Fritsche, Katherine Ragan Calculating the labour market indicator (LMI) at the provincial level provides useful insights into Canada’s regional economies and reveals differing trends in the state of underlying labour market conditions across provinces. Conclusions based on the Canadian LMI do not necessarily translate to the provinces. In most cases, the correlations between the provincial LMIs and the underlying labour market variables have the expected sign. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E27, J, J2, J21, J23 Research Theme(s): Monetary policy, Real economy and forecasting, Structural challenges, Demographics and labour supply