Measuring Uncertainty in Monetary Policy Using Implied Volatility and Realized Volatility Staff Working Paper 2013-37 Bo Young Chang, Bruno Feunou We measure uncertainty surrounding the central bank’s future policy rates using implied volatility computed from interest rate option prices and realized volatility computed from intraday prices of interest rate futures. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy and uncertainty JEL Code(s): E, E4
ToTEM II: An Updated Version of the Bank of Canada’s Quarterly Projection Model Technical Report No. 100 José Dorich, Michael K. Johnston, Rhys R. Mendes, Stephen Murchison, Yang Zhang This report provides a detailed technical description of an updated version of the Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM II), which replaced ToTEM (Murchison and Rennison 2006) in June 2011 as the Bank of Canada’s quarterly projection model for Canada. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E1, E17, E2, E20, E3, E30, E4, E40, E5, E50, F, F4, F41
The Common Component of CPI: An Alternative Measure of Underlying Inflation for Canada Staff Working Paper 2013-35 Mikael Khan, Louis Morel, Patrick Sabourin In this paper, the authors propose a measure of underlying inflation for Canada obtained from estimating a monthly factor model on individual components of the CPI. This measure, labelled the common component of CPI, has intuitive appeal and a number of interesting features. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Econometric and statistical methods, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): C, C1, E, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52, E58
The Safety of Government Debt Staff Working Paper 2013-34 Kartik Anand, Prasanna Gai We examine the safety of government bonds in the presence of Knightian uncertainty amongst financial market participants. In our model, the information insensitivity of government bonds is driven by strategic complementarities across counterparties and the structure of trading relationships. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Financial stability, International financial markets JEL Code(s): D, D8, D81, E, E4, E44, F, F0, F02, F4, F41, G, G1, G15
Housing and Tax Policy Staff Working Paper 2013-33 Sami Alpanda, Sarah Zubairy In this paper, we investigate the effects of housing-related tax policy measures on macroeconomic aggregates using a dynamic general-equilibrium model. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy, Housing JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, H, H2, H24, R, R3, R38
Forecasting the Real Price of Oil in a Changing World: A Forecast Combination Approach Staff Working Paper 2013-28 Christiane Baumeister, Lutz Kilian The U.S. Energy Information Administration regularly publishes short-term forecasts of the price of crude oil. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, International topics JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E3, E32, Q, Q4, Q43
Analyzing Fiscal Sustainability Staff Working Paper 2013-27 Huixin Bi, Eric M. Leeper The authors study the implications of fiscal policy behaviour for sovereign risk in a framework that determines a country’s fiscal limit, the point at which, for economic or political reasons, taxes and spending can no longer adjust to stabilize debt. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, E65, H, H6, H63
Uncertain Fiscal Consolidations Staff Working Paper 2013-26 Huixin Bi, Eric M. Leeper, Campbell Leith The paper explores the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal consolidations whose timing and composition - either tax- or spending-based - are uncertain. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy, Monetary policy and uncertainty JEL Code(s): E, E6, E62, E63, H, H3, H30, H6, H60
August 15, 2013 CSI: A Model for Tracking Short-Term Growth in Canadian Real GDP Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2013 André Binette, Jae Chang Canada’s Short-Term Indicator (CSI) is a new model that exploits the information content of 32 indicators to produce daily updates to forecasts of quarterly real GDP growth. The model is a data-intensive, judgment-free approach to short-term forecasting. While CSI’s forecasts at the start of the quarter are not very accurate, the model’s accuracy increases appreciably as more information becomes available. CSI is the latest addition to a wide range of models and information sources that the Bank of Canada uses, combined with expert judgment, to produce its short-term forecasts. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C5, C53, E, E1, E17, E3, E37
August 15, 2013 The Accuracy of Short-Term Forecast Combinations Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2013 Eleonora Granziera, Corinne Luu, Pierre St-Amant This article examines whether combining forecasts of real GDP from different models can improve forecast accuracy and considers which model-combination methods provide the best performance. In line with previous literature, the authors find that combining forecasts generally improves forecast accuracy relative to various benchmarks. Unlike several previous studies, however, they find that, rather than assigning equal weights to each model, unequal weighting based on the past forecast performance of models tends to improve accuracy when forecasts across models are substantially different. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Research Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C5, C52, C53, E, E3, E37