August 19, 2002 Models in Policy-Making Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Donald Coletti, Stephen Murchison This article examines another strategy in the Bank's approach to dealing with an uncertain world: the use of carefully articulated models to produce economic forecasts and to examine the implications of the various risks to those forecasts. Economic models are deliberate simplifications of a complex world that allow economists to make predictions that are reasonably accurate and that can be easily understood and communicated. By using several models, based on competing paradigms, the Bank minimizes policy errors that could result from relying on one view of the world and one philosophy of model design. The authors review some of the models currently used at the Bank, as well as the role of judgment in the projection process. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Economic models
August 18, 2002 The Role of Simple Rules in the Conduct of Canadian Monetary Policy Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Denise Côté, Jean-Paul Lam, Ying Liu, Pierre St-Amant The third strategy employed by the Bank when dealing with uncertainty is the consideration of appropriate simple reaction functions or "rules" for the setting of the policy interest rate. Since John Taylor's presentation of his much-discussed rule, research on simple policy rules has exploded. Simple rules have several advantages. In particular, they are easy to construct and communicate and are believed by some to be robust, in the sense of generating good results in a variety of economic models. This article provides an overview of the recent research regarding the usefulness and robustness of simple monetary policy rules, particularly in models of the Canadian economy. It also describes and explains the role of simple rules in the conduct of monetary policy in Canada. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy and uncertainty
August 15, 2002 Operational Enhancements to Government of Canada Debt Programs The government conducts regular consultations with market participants to support its strategic objectives of raising stable, low-cost funding and maintaining a well-functioning market for Government of Canada securities. Content Type(s): Press, Market notices
August 15, 2002 Operational Enhancements to Government Debt Programs The Government of Canada plans to open a new benchmark issue at the next 10-year auction.
The Usefulness of Consumer Confidence Indexes in the United States Staff Working Paper 2002-22 Brigitte Desroches, Marc-André Gosselin This paper assesses the usefulness of consumer confidence indexes in forecasting aggregate consumer spending in the United States. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Domestic demand and components, Economic models, International topics JEL Code(s): D, D1, D12, E, E2, E21, E27
Entrepreneurial Risk, Credit Constraints, and the Corporate Income Tax: A Quantitative Exploration Staff Working Paper 2002-21 Césaire Meh This paper describes the positive effect that corporate income tax has on capital formation in the presence of liquidity constraints and uninsurable risk. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Fiscal policy JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E6, E62, H, H2, H20, H23
Evaluating the Quarterly Projection Model: A Preliminary Investigation Staff Working Paper 2002-20 Robert Amano, Kim McPhail, Hope Pioro, Andrew Rennison This paper summarizes the results of recent research evaluating the Bank of Canada's Quarterly Projection Model (QPM). Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): C, C5, C52, E, E1, E17, E3, E30, E37
The Financial Services Sector: An Update on Recent Developments Technical Report No. 91 Charles Freedman, Clyde Goodlet The Canadian financial industry continues to experience significant changes. This report provides an update on recent developments and re-examines a number of issues facing financial service providers that were identified in Technical Report No. 82. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial services JEL Code(s): G, G2
Dollarization in Canada: The Buck Stops There Technical Report No. 90 John Murray, James Powell The sharp depreciation of the Canadian dollar and the successful launch of the euro have spawned an animated debate in Canada concerning the potential benefits of formally adopting the U.S. dollar as our national currency. Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Exchange rate regimes JEL Code(s): E, E3, E32, F, F3, F33, F36
July 24, 2002 Release of the Monetary Policy Report Update Opening statement David Dodge Today, we published our Update to the April Monetary Policy Report, in which we discuss economic and financial trends in the context of Canada's inflation-control strategy. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements