International topics
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October 20, 2006
MUSE: The Bank of Canada's New Projection Model of the U.S. Economy
Staff projections provided for the Bank of Canada's monetary policy decision process take into account the integration of Canada's very open economy within the global economy, as well as its close real and financial linkages with the United States. To provide inputs for this projection, the Bank has developed several models, including MUSE, NEUQ (the New European Quarterly Model), and BoC-GEM (Bank of Canada Global Economy Model), to analyze and forecast economic developments in the rest of the world. The authors focus on MUSE, the model currently used to describe interaction among the principal U.S. economic variables, including gross domestic product, inflation, interest rates, and the exchange rate. Brief descriptions are also provided of NEUQ and BoC-GEM. -
Endogenous Borrowing Constraints and Consumption Volatility in a Small Open Economy
Consumption volatility relative to output volatility is consistently higher in emerging economies than in developed economies. -
Governance and the IMF: Does the Fund Follow Corporate Best Practice?
The governance challenges facing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are not simply limited to representation and voice, and the associated question of quota allocation. -
June 16, 2006
Global Imbalances—Just How Dangerous?
The combination of rising current account surpluses in Asia and a growing current account deficit in the United States has raised concerns that the resulting imbalances pose a threat to the world economy, especially if they are reversed in a disorderly manner. Some experts believe that normal market forces will resolve these imbalances over time; others argue that policy-makers should facilitate the adjustment with policies that curb domestic demand in deficit countries and stimulate it in surplus countries. Little and Lafrance provide a guide to the major issues and controversies involved in the debate. -
The International Monetary Fund's Balance-Sheet and Credit Risk
The authors examine the characteristics of International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending from the 1960s to 2005. -
Institutional Quality, Trade, and the Changing Distribution of World Income
Conventional wisdom holds that institutional changes and trade liberalization are two main sources of growth in per capita income around the world. -
The Institutional and Political Determinants of Fiscal Adjustment
The author empirically assesses the effects of institutional and political factors on the need and willingness of governments to make large fiscal adjustments. -
An Empirical Analysis of Foreign Exchange Reserves in Emerging Asia
Over the past few years, the ability of the United States to finance its current account deficit has been facilitated by massive purchases of U.S. -
October 25, 2005
Exports, Imports, and the Appreciation of the Canadian Dollar
An objective assessment of the effects of the appreciation of the Canadian dollar in 2003 and 2004 on exports and imports requires a detailed review of the numerous other factors which may have been at play. Dion, Laurence, and Zheng discuss the influences that have affected Canada's international trade over the past two years, including exchange rate movements, global and sector-specific shocks, constraints on the domestic supply of a few products, and competition from emerging economies, most notably, China. The analysis is complemented with econometric models developed at the Bank which provide statistically valid estimates of the contribution of the Canadian-dollar appreciation to the recent developments in exports and imports.