Economic models

• Can the Business Outlook Survey Help Improve Estimates of the Canadian Output Gap?

  Staff Discussion Paper 2020-14 Calista Cheung, Luke Frymire, Lise Pichette

  We investigate whether questions in the Bank of Canada’s Business Outlook Survey can provide useful signals for the output gap.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Central bank research, Economic models, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Potential output JEL Code(s): E, E3

• Towards a HANK Model for Canada: Estimating a Canadian Income Process

  Staff Discussion Paper 2020-13 Iskander Karibzhanov

  How might one simulate a million realistic income paths and compute their statistical moments in under a second? Using CUDA-based methods to estimate the Canadian earnings process, I find that the distribution of labour income growth is sharply peaked with heavy tails—similar to that in the United States.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Labour markets JEL Code(s): D, D3, D31, E, E2, E24, J, J3, J31

• 2020 US Neutral Rate Assessment

  Staff Discussion Paper 2020-12 James Bootsma, Thomas J. Carter, Xin Scott Chen, Christopher Hajzler, Argyn Toktamyssov

  This paper presents Bank of Canada staff’s current assessment of the US neutral rate, along with a newly developed set of models on which that assessment is based. The overall assessment is that the US neutral rate currently lies in a range of 1.75 to 2.75 percent.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Interest rates, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E43, E5, E50, E52, E58, F, F4, F41

• A Macroeconomic Model of an Epidemic with Silent Transmission and Endogenous Self-isolation

  Staff Working Paper 2020-50 Antonio Diez de los Rios

  We study the interaction between epidemics and economic decisions in a model that has silent transmission of the virus. We find that rational behaviour strongly diminishes the severity of the epidemic but worsens the economic recession. We also find that the detection and isolation of not only symptomatic individuals but also those who are infected and asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic can reduce the severity of the recession caused by the pandemic.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Economic models JEL Code(s): E, E1, H, H0, I, I1

• Optimal Quantitative Easing in a Monetary Union

  Staff Working Paper 2020-49 Serdar Kabaca, Renske Maas, Kostas Mavromatis, Romanos Priftis

  How should a central bank conduct quantitative easing (QE) in a monetary union when regions differ in their size and portfolio characteristics? Optimal QE policy suggests allocating greater purchases from the region that faces stronger portfolio frictions, and not necessarily according to each region’s size.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E5, E52, E58

• Outside Investor Access to Top Management: Market Monitoring versus Stock Price Manipulation

  Staff Working Paper 2020-43 Josef Schroth

  Should managers be paid in stock options if they provide stock-market participants with information about the firm? This paper studies how firm owners trade off the benefit of stock-price incentives and better-informed market participants against the cost of potential stock-price manipulation.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models, Financial markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): D, D8, D82, D86, G, G1, G14, G3, G32, G34, M, M1, M12, M4, M41

• The neutral rate in Canada: 2020 update

  Staff Analytical Note 2020-24 Dmitry Matveev, Julien McDonald-Guimond, Rodrigo Sekkel

  The neutral rate of interest is important for central banks because it helps measure the stance of monetary policy. We present updated estimates of the neutral rate in Canada using the most recent data. We expect the COVID-19 pandemic to significantly affect the fundamental drivers of the Canadian neutral rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical notes Research Topic(s): Economic models, Interest rates, Monetary policy JEL Code(s): E, E4, E40, E43, E5, E50, E52, E58, F, F4, F41

• Average is Good Enough: Average-inflation Targeting and the ELB

  Staff Working Paper 2020-31 Robert Amano, Stefano Gnocchi, Sylvain Leduc, Joel Wagner

  The Great Recession and current pandemic have focused attention on the constraint on nominal interest rates from the effective lower bound.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Economic models, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E32, E5, E52

• Non-competing Data Intermediaries

  Staff Working Paper 2020-28 Shota Ichihashi

  I study a model of competing data intermediaries (e.g., online platforms and data brokers) that collect personal data from consumers and sell it to downstream firms.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Research Topic(s): Economic models JEL Code(s): D, D4, D42, D43, D8, D80, L, L1, L12
• June 24, 2020

  Bank of Canada contributes to new publications by the Network for Greening the Financial System

  As a member of the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), the Bank of Canada contributed to three publications that aim to improve global understanding of the impact of climate change on the financial system and world economy.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Hub articles Research Topic(s): Climate change, Economic models, Financial stability, International topics, Monetary policy