May 15, 1999 Bank of Canada Review - Spring 1999 Cover page Merchant’s note, 1837 Approximately four by three inches in size, this bon is part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada. Photography by James Zagon. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review
May 14, 1999 Open outcry and electronic trading in futures exchanges Bank of Canada Review - Spring 1999 Raymond Tsang Despite the efficiency gains that accompany automation, most large futures exchanges have been reluctant to move away from the traditional trading floor, citing early evidence that open outcry exchanges were more liquid than electronic exchanges. More recent studies, however, suggest that electronic trading is superior to open outcry in many respects, including liquidity. In this article, the author compares the two trading systems. Although many exchanges are shifting towards electronic trading, there are still several obstacles to this transition. But as technology rapidly reduces the cost of automation and increases the demand for global 24-hour trading, a worldwide transition to electronic order-matching will likely be the next important milestone for futures exchanges. Less-automated exchanges (including the Canadian futures exchanges) will undoubtedly continue to study and promote automation in order to keep pace with technological innovations. Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets
May 4, 1999 Global financial turbulence and the Canadian economy Remarks Gordon Thiessen La Chambre de commerce de la région sherbrookoise Sherbrooke, Quebec The world economy and Canada have had to navigate some difficult straits in the past couple of years. But we have made it through. And considering the tide from the Asian financial crisis that washed around the world, the Canadian economy has coped better this time around than in the past. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks
May 4, 1999 Bank Rate Lowered by ¼ Percentage Point to 4¾ Per Cent Media Relations Ottawa, Ontario The Bank of Canada today lowered its Bank Rate by ¼ of one per cent to 4¾ per cent. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
May 4, 1999 Bank of Canada Governor speaks to La Chambre de commerce de la région sherbrookoise Media Relations Sherbrooke, Quebec The Canadian economy has come through the financial volatility and global economic slowdown of the past few years quite well and has started 1999 on a strong note, Bank of Canada Governor Gordon Thiessen told members of La Chambre de Commerce de la région sherbrookoise today. Content Type(s): Press, Press releases
Uncovering Inflation Expectations and Risk Premiums From Internationally Integrated Financial Markets Staff Working Paper 1999-6 Ben Fung, Scott Mitnick, Eli Remolona Theory and empirical evidence suggest that the term structure of interest rates reflects risk premiums as well as market expectations about future inflation and real interest rates. We propose an approach to extracting such premiums and expectations by exploiting both the comovements among interest rates across the yield curve and between two countries, Canada and […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Inflation and prices, Interest rates, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, G, G1, G12, G15
April 20, 1999 Opening Statement before the Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce Opening statement Gordon Thiessen Standing Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce Since we have recently tabled the Bank of Canada’s Annual Report in Parliament, I would also be happy to answer any questions you may have about our stewardship of the Bank. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements
Real Effects of Collapsing Exchange Rate Regimes: An Application to Mexico Staff Working Paper 1999-10 Patrick Osakwe, Lawrence L. Schembri This paper examines the impact of a collapsing exchange rate regime on output in an open economy in which shocks to capital flows and exports predominate. A sticky-price rational expectations model is used to compare the variability of output under the collapsing regime to that under alternative fixed and flexible regimes. Output is found to […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates JEL Code(s): F, F3, F31, F4, F41
Measuring Potential Output within a State-Space Framework Staff Working Paper 1999-9 Maral Kichian In this paper we measure potential output (and consequently the output gap) using state-space models. Given that the estimated output gap is used as an indicator to measure the extent of inflationary pressures in the economy, we evaluate the use of such models for the implementation of monetary policy. Our starting point is the Gerlach […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Potential output JEL Code(s): D, D2, D24
Monetary Rules When Economic Behaviour Changes Staff Working Paper 1999-8 Robert Amano, Donald Coletti, Tiff Macklem This paper examines the implications of changes in economic behaviour for simple inflation-forecast–based monetary rules of the type currently used at two inflation-targeting central banks. Three types of changes in economic behaviour are considered, changes that are motivated by developments in monetary and fiscal policy in the 1990s: changes in monetary policy credibility, changes in […] Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credibility, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52