June 19, 2024 What you pay for at the pump Kun Mo Several factors help set gasoline prices: the costs of crude oil, refining, transporting, retailing and marketing gas, as well as taxes. Content Type(s): Publications, The Economy, Plain and Simple Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing
June 13, 2024 Reviewing our pandemic actions Speech summary Sharon Kozicki Canadian Association for Business Economics Ottawa, Ontario Deputy Governor Sharon Kozicki talks about the importance of central bank transparency and accountability. She looks at the exceptional monetary policy measures the Bank of Canada used during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzes their effectiveness. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Speech summaries Topic(s): Central bank research, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Credibility, Economic models, Financial stability, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Interest rates, Monetary policy, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy communications, Recent economic and financial developments
June 13, 2024 Exceptional policies for an exceptional time: From quantitative easing to quantitative tightening Remarks Sharon Kozicki Canadian Association of Business Economics Ottawa, Ontario Deputy Governor Sharon Kozicki discusses the use of exceptional monetary policy tools during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Bank’s commitment to transparency and accountability. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Central bank research, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Credibility, Economic models, Financial stability, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Interest rates, Monetary policy, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy communications, Recent economic and financial developments
Sources of pandemic-era inflation in Canada: an application of the Bernanke and Blanchard model Staff Analytical Note 2024-13 Fares Bounajm, Jean Garry Junior Roc, Yang Zhang We explore the drivers of the surge in inflation in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work is part of a joint effort by 11 central banks using the model developed by Bernanke and Blanchard (2023) to identify similarities and differences across economies. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Economic models, Inflation and prices, Labour markets JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E31, E37, E5, E52, E6
Assessing the Impact of the Bank of Canada’s Government Bond Purchases Staff Discussion Paper 2024-5 Chinara Azizova, Jonathan Witmer, Xu Zhang In March 2020, the Bank of Canada implemented the Government of Canada Bond Purchase Program, eventually purchasing approximately $340 billion of government bonds. In this paper, we analyze the impact of this program on financial market prices and yields as well as on GDP and inflation. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Financial institutions, Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, G, G2, G21, G28
June 12, 2024 Central banking: Navigating in a new world Remarks Tiff Macklem 30th Conference of Montréal: International Economic Forum of the Americas Montréal, Quebec Governor Tiff Macklem looks back on the lessons learned from post-pandemic inflation and discusses the challenges ahead. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Inflation and prices, Inflation: costs and benefits, International topics, Monetary policy
Markups and Inflation in Oligopolistic Markets: Evidence from Wholesale Price Data Staff Working Paper 2024-20 Patrick Alexander, Lu Han, Oleksiy Kryvtsov, Ben Tomlin We study how the interaction of market power and nominal price rigidity influences inflation dynamics. We find that pass-through declines with price stickiness when markets are concentrated, which implies a lower slope of the New Keynesian Phillips curve. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Inflation and prices, Market structure and pricing, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D4, D43, E, E3, E31, L, L1, L13, L8, L81
Endogenous Credibility and Wage-Price Spirals Staff Working Paper 2024-14 Olena Kostyshyna, Tolga Özden, Yang Zhang We quantitively assess the risks of a wage-price spiral occurring in Canada over history. We find the risk of a wage-price spiral increases when the inflation expectations become unanchored and the credibility of central banks declines. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Credibility, Inflation and prices, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): C, C2, C22, E, E0, E00, E4, E47, E7
Pricing behaviour and inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from consumer prices microdata Staff Analytical Note 2024-6 Olga Bilyk, Mikael Khan, Olena Kostyshyna Using the microdata underlying the Canadian consumer price index, we study how often and by how much firms changed their prices during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the surge in inflation was mainly associated with retailers raising prices much more often than before. We also find that more recently, corporate price-setting behaviour appears to be approaching pre-pandemic norms. Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Topic(s): Firm dynamics, Inflation and prices, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D2, D22, E, E3, E31, L, L1, L11
March 26, 2024 Time to break the glass: Fixing Canada’s productivity problem Remarks Carolyn Rogers Halifax Partnership Halifax, Nova Scotia Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers explains how higher productivity can protect the economy from future bouts of inflation and why fixing Canada's productivity problem should be a priority for all Canadians. Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Labour markets, Potential output, Productivity