Interest rates

• December 11, 2007

  The Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates: Implications for Monetary Policy

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2007-2008 Claude Lavoie, Stephen Murchison

  One of the most important factors that must be considered if countries are thinking about lowering the target level of inflation much below 2 per cent is the zero interest bound. Targeting inflation rates that are too low, the authors note, may restrict the ability of monetary policy to respond to economic shocks by limiting the amount by which interest rates can be eased.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits, Interest rates, Monetary policy implementation

• Examining Simple Joint Macroeconomic and Term-Structure Models: A Practitioner's Perspective

  Staff Working Paper 2007-49 David Bolder, Shudan Liu

  The primary objective of this paper is to compare a variety of joint models of the term structure of interest rates and the macroeconomy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): C, C0, C6, E, E4, G, G1

• Term Structure Transmission of Monetary Policy

  Staff Working Paper 2007-30 Sharon Kozicki, P. A. Tinsley

  Under bond-rate transmission of monetary policy, the authors show that a generalized Taylor Principle applies, in which the average anticipated path of policy responses to inflation is subject to a lower bound of unity. This result helps explain how bond rates may exhibit stable responses to inflation, even in periods of passive policy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Interest rates, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): E, E3, E5, N, N1

• Price Formation and Liquidity Provision in Short-Term Fixed Income Markets

  Staff Working Paper 2007-27 Chris D'Souza, Ingrid Lo, Stephen Sapp

  Differences in market structures may affect the manner in which fundamental information is incorporated into prices. High levels of quote and trade transparency plus substantial quoting obligations in European government securities markets ensure that prices are informationally efficient.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Interest rates, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): G, G1, G12, G14, G15

• A No-Arbitrage Analysis of Macroeconomic Determinants of Term Structures and the Exchange Rate

  Staff Working Paper 2007-21 Fousseni Chabi-Yo, Jun Yang

  We study the joint dynamics of macroeconomic variables, bond yields, and the exchange rate in an empirical two-country New-Keynesian model complemented with a no-arbitrage term structure model. With Canadian and US data, we are able to study the impact of macroeconomic shocks from both countries on their yield curves and the exchange rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Debt management, Econometric and statistical methods, Exchange rates, Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): E, E1, E12, E4, E43, F, F4, F41, G, G1, G12, G15

• The Zero Bound on Nominal Interest Rates: Implications for the Optimal Monetary Policy in Canada

  Staff Discussion Paper 2007-1 Claude Lavoie, Hope Pioro

  The authors assess the performance of the Canadian economy under a variety of interest rate rules when the zero bound on nominal interest rates can bind. Their assessment is based on numerical simulations of a dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model in a stochastic environment. Consistent with the literature, the authors find that the probability and consequences […]

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Inflation: costs and benefits, Interest rates, Monetary policy framework JEL Code(s): E, E4, E43, E47, E5, E52

• World Real Interest Rates: A Global Savings and Investment Perspective

  Staff Working Paper 2007-16 Brigitte Desroches, Michael Francis

  Over the past 15 years, long-term interest rates have declined to levels not seen since the 1970s. This paper explores possible shifts in global savings and investment that have led to this fall in the world real interest rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Interest rates, International topics JEL Code(s): E, E2, E4, F, F3

• Uncollateralized Overnight Loans Settled in LVTS

  Staff Working Paper 2007-11 Scott Hendry, Nadja Kamhi

  Loan-level data on the uncollateralized overnight loan market is generated using payment data from Canada's Large Value Transfer System (LVTS) and a modified version of the methodology proposed in Furfine (1999). There were on average just under 100 loans extended in this market each day from March 2004 to March 2006 for a total daily value of about $5 billion.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Interest rates JEL Code(s): E, E4, E44, E5, E50, G, G1, G12
• December 23, 2006

  Global Savings, Investment, and World Real Interest Rates

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2006-2007 Brigitte Desroches, Michael Francis

  Over the past 25 years, world long-term interest rates have declined to levels not seen since the 1960s. This decline has been accompanied by falling world investment and savings rates. The authors explore global saving and investment outcomes that have led to the fall in the world real interest rate. The results show that the key factors explaining movements in savings and investment are variables that evolve relatively slowly over time, such as labour force growth and the age structure of the world economy. The conclusions suggest that, over the coming years, it is unlikely that these slowly changing variables will be a source of significant changes in world real interest rates.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Interest rates, International topics
• December 18, 2006

  A Summary of the Bank of Canada Conference on Fixed-Income Markets, 3–4 May 2006

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 2006-2007 Gregory Bauer, Scott Hendry

  The Bank of Canada's interest in fixed-income markets spans several of its functional areas of responsibility, including monetary policy, funds management, and financial system stability and efficiency. For that reason, the 2006 conference brought together top academics and central bankers from around the world to discuss leading-edge work in the field of fixed-income research. The papers and discussions cover such topics as the efficiency of fixed-income markets, price formation, the determinants of the yield curve, and volatility modelling. This article provides a short summary of each conference paper and the ensuing discussion.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Debt management, Financial markets, Interest rates