June 18, 2008 House Prices and Consumer Spending Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Kimberly Beaton, Sylvie Morin, Ilan Kolet Flood, Morin, and Kolet examine the role of house prices in household consumption decisions. Considering a group of advanced economies, the authors find that the strength of the link between house prices and consumer spending depends on the institutional features of national mortgage markets. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, International topics, Recent economic and financial developments
Inflation, Nominal Portfolios, and Wealth Redistribution in Canada Staff Working Paper 2008-19 Césaire Meh, Yaz Terajima There is currently a policy debate on potential refinements to monetary policy regimes in countries with low and stable inflation such as the U.S. and Canada. For example, in Canada, a systematic review of the current inflation targeting framework is underway. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Inflation: costs and benefits, Monetary policy framework, Sectoral balance sheet JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, D5, D58, E, E3, E31, E5, E50
June 17, 2008 A Tool for Assessing Financial Vulnerabilities in the Household Sector Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Shubhasis Dey, Ramdane Djoudad, Yaz Terajima In this article, the authors build on the framework used in the Bank of Canada's Financial System Review to assess the evolution of household indebtedness and financial vulnerabilities in response to changing economic conditions. To achieve this, they first compare two microdata sets generated by Ipsos Reid's Canadian Financial Monitor and Statistics Canada's Survey of Financial Security. They find that the surveys are broadly comparable, despite methodological differences. This enables them to use the combined information content for the identification of the threshold value of the debt-service ratio (DSR). The article then presents an innovative framework that uses household-level microdata to simulate changes in the distribution of the DSR under various stress scenarios. The authors show how this framework can be used by analyzing the effects of two different scenarios on the distribution of the debt-service ratio and the impact on vulnerable households. This tool will enable researchers to refine their analyses of current risks to the financial health of Canadian households. The article concludes with comments on future directions for refining the Bank's analyses of household sector risk. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Economic models, Financial stability
June 16, 2008 A Money and Credit Real-Time Database for Canada Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Roobina Keshishbanoosy, Pierre St-Amant, Devin Ball, Ivan Medovikov Model-based forecasts of important economic variables are part of the range of information considered for monetary policy decision making. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Monetary aggregates, Monetary policy and uncertainty
June 15, 2008 Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2008 Cover page Chinese Coin Charms The charms on the cover are part of the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada. Photography by Gord Carter. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
June 12, 2008 Results of the 12 June 2008 Term PRA Transaction Results of today's term PRA operations. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
June 10, 2008 Bank of Canada keeps overnight rate target at 3 per cent Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 3 per cent. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
June 10, 2008 Bank of Canada Announces Term PRA Transaction As part of its provision of liquidity in support of the efficient functioning of financial markets, the Bank of Canada announced today that it will enter into a 28-day term purchase and resale agreement (PRA) as follows: Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
Empirical Likelihood Block Bootstrapping Staff Working Paper 2008-18 Jason Allen, Allan Gregory, Katsumi Shimotsu Monte Carlo evidence has made it clear that asymptotic tests based on generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation have disappointing size. The problem is exacerbated when the moment conditions are serially correlated. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C2, C22
June 5, 2008 Change in eligibility requirements for National Housing Act Mortgage-Backed Securities (NHA MBS) as collateral under the Bank of Canada's Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF): Minimum pool size lowered to $25 million from $75 million Effective immediately, the minimum pool size for eligibility of NHA MBS as collateral under the Bank of Canada's SLF will be lowered to $25 million from $75 million. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices