October 13, 2007 Estimating the Cost of Equity for Canadian and U.S. Firms Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2007 Lorie Zorn Financing costs are important for both firms and the economy, affecting investment decisions and, ultimately, economic growth. Despite concern among policy-makers that the cost of equity financing may be higher in Canada than in the United States, empirical evidence supporting this view is mixed. Yet Canadian firms may not undertake as many projects that could potentially enhance growth if the cost of equity financing in Canada is relatively high. The article summarizes research by Jonathan Witmer and Lorie Zorn on the influences on the cost of equity in Canada and the United States, using an updated methodology that controls for firm characteristics and aggregate-level factors. In their sample, the cost of equity was 30–50 basis points higher in Canada over 1988 to 2006 but appears to have dropped in the post-1997 period. The results have policy implications related to such factors as firm size, disclosure, and securities regulation and enforcement. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics
October 12, 2007 Bank of Canada Workshop on Derivatives Markets in Canada and Beyond Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2007 Toni Gravelle At this 2006 workshop hosted by the Bank of Canada, an international group of market participants, regulators, and policy-makers gathered to assess recent developments in the derivatives market. Among the topics discussed were the recent prodigious growth in risk-transfer instruments, including credit derivatives and inflation-linked derivatives, as well as the accompanying challenges and benefits. Overall, the development of derivatives markets was seen as providing broad economic benefits, including more complete financial markets, improved market liquidity, and increased capacity of the financial system to effectively price and bear risk. Yet concern was also voiced that market participants do not fully understand the risks that arise in trading credit derivatives. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability, Financial system regulation and policies
October 11, 2007 Deputy Governor Tiff Macklem appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Finance Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Prime Minister announced today that Tiff Macklem, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, has been appointed Associate Deputy Minister of Finance, effective 1 November. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
October 10, 2007 The Canadian Journey: An Odyssey into the Complex World of Bank Note Production Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2007 Jill Moxley, Helen Meubus, Maura Brown For many years, the Bank of Canada successfully responded to occasional eruptions in counterfeiting by improving the security features on bank notes. The surge in counterfeiting that occurred while the Bank prepared to launch the Canadian Journey series, however, reflected increasingly rapid advances in computer technology that were changing the counterfeiting environment. The article describes these and other challenges that affected the new series and describes how the Bank developed a comprehensive new approach to its currency program and incorporated the valuable lessons it learned from these challenges. Designed to combat counterfeiting and meet the needs of the public, the new strategy includes increased research and development on new bank note security features, an intensified focus on retailer and public education, and a focus on law enforcement. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Bank notes, Central bank research
October 5, 2007 Business Outlook Survey - Autumn 2007 Overall, businesses continue to be positive about the economic outlook, notwithstanding lower expectations for U.S. economic growth and recent financial market turbulence. Content Type(s): Publications, Business Outlook Survey
October 4, 2007 Mark Carney Appointed Governor of the Bank of Canada Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Directors of the Bank of Canada appointed under Section 9 of the Bank of Canada Act today announced that they have appointed Mark Carney as Governor of the Bank of Canada for a seven-year term, effective 1 February 2008. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
Rediscounting Under Aggregate Risk with Moral Hazard Staff Working Paper 2007-51 James Chapman, Antoine Martin Freeman (1999) proposes a model in which discount window lending and open market operations have different effects. This is important because in most of the literature, these policies are indistinguishable. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Central bank research, Financial markets, Payment clearing and settlement systems JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, G, G2, G20
October 3, 2007 Liquidity, Liquidity, Liquidity Remarks David Longworth Investment Industry Association of Canada Toronto, Ontario Sound financial investment is important to individuals, to firms, and to society as a whole. By definition, investment is forward looking, and thus our future financial well-being is shaped by the soundness of the investment decisions we make today. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
Do Firms Adjust Toward a Target Leverage Level? Staff Working Paper 2007-50 Zhaoxia Xu This paper studies capital structure adjustment mechanisms of firms that experience substantial changes in leverage. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, International topics JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32
Examining Simple Joint Macroeconomic and Term-Structure Models: A Practitioner's Perspective Staff Working Paper 2007-49 David Bolder, Shudan Liu The primary objective of this paper is to compare a variety of joint models of the term structure of interest rates and the macroeconomy. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1