Recent economic and financial developments

• Sluggish Exports in Advanced Economies: How Much Is Due to Demand?

  Staff Discussion Paper 2015-3 Louis Morel

  Exports in advanced economies have been relatively sluggish since 2011, growing at a much slower pace than observed before the global financial crisis.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): International topics, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): F, F1, F4
• February 19, 2015

  Inflation, Expectations and Monetary Policy

  Remarks Agathe Côté Association québécoise des technologies Mont-Tremblant, Quebec

  Deputy Governor Agathe Côté discusses the importance of inflation expectations for monetary policy and a new survey the Bank of Canada created to monitor household expectations.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Central bank research, Credibility, Inflation and prices, Inflation targets, Monetary and financial indicators, Recent economic and financial developments

• Changing Labour Market Participation Since the Great Recession: A Regional Perspective

  Staff Discussion Paper 2015-2 Calista Cheung, Dmitry Granovsky, Gabriella Velasco

  This paper discusses broad trends in labour force participation and part-time employment across different age groups since the Great Recession and uses provincial data to identify changes related to population aging, cyclical effects and other factors.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E32, J, J1, J2, J21, J6

• Does Financial Integration Increase Welfare? Evidence from International Household-Level Data

  Staff Working Paper 2015-4 Christian Friedrich

  Despite a vast empirical literature that assesses the impact of financial integration on the economy, evidence of substantial welfare gains from consumption risk sharing remains elusive. While maintaining the usual cross-country perspective of the literature, this paper explicitly accounts for household heterogeneity and thus relaxes three restrictive assumptions that have featured prominently in the past.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): International financial markets, International topics, Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E21, F, F3, I, I3, I31
• January 21, 2015

  Release of the Monetary Policy Report

  Opening statement Stephen S. Poloz Ottawa, Ontario

  Press conference following the release of the Monetary Policy Report.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Opening statements Topic(s): Inflation and prices, Interest rates, Monetary policy, Monetary policy implementation, Recent economic and financial developments, Regional economic developments
• January 13, 2015

  Drilling Down - Understanding Oil Prices and Their Economic Impact

  Remarks Timothy Lane Madison International Trade Association (MITA) Madison, Wisconsin

  Deputy Governor Timothy Lane discusses the causes of the recent drop in oil prices and its effects on the global and Canadian economies.

  Content Type(s): Press, Speeches and appearances, Remarks Topic(s): Business fluctuations and cycles, Inflation and prices, International topics, Monetary policy, Recent economic and financial developments, Trade integration

• Why Do Canadian Firms Invest and Operate Abroad? Implications for Canadian Exports

  Staff Discussion Paper 2014-7 Martin Coiteux, Patrick Rizzetto, Lena Suchanek, Jane Voll

  Canadian foreign direct investment and sales of Canadian multinational firms’ operations abroad, particularly in the manufacturing industry and in the United States, have accelerated sharply over the past decade.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff discussion papers Topic(s): International topics, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): F, F1, F10, F2, F21, F23, F4, F41
• June 12, 2014

  Reforming Financial Benchmarks: An International Perspective

  Financial System Review - June 2014 Thomas Thorn, Harri Vikstedt

  Thomas Thorn and Harri Vikstedt examine the efforts being taken internationally and in Canada to enhance the governance and integrity of financial benchmarks. The report provides an overview of how interbank interest rate benchmarks are set and describes the weaknesses in the process that were exposed by the financial crisis. It also explains recent policy developments designed to make global and Canadian interbank benchmarks more robust.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Financial System Review articles Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial system regulation and policies, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): G, G1, G11
• May 13, 2014

  The Canadian Dollar as a Reserve Currency

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Lukasz Pomorski, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Eric Wolfe

  This article provides an overview of the growth of Canadian-dollar-denominated assets in official foreign reserves. Based on International Monetary Fund data and on internal Bank of Canada analysis, we estimate that the total reserve holdings of Canadian-dollar assets increased from negligible levels before 2008 to around US$200 billion in the third quarter of 2013. We discuss the determinants of this increase, as well as its potential impact on Canadian debt markets, for example, lower yields and therefore reduced financing costs for the Government of Canada, and the possible negative impact on market liquidity.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Central bank research, Foreign reserves management, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E5, E58, F, F3, F31, G, G1, G12
• May 13, 2014

  Beyond the Unemployment Rate: Assessing Canadian and U.S. Labour Markets Since the Great Recession

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Konrad Zmitrowicz, Mikael Khan

  This article provides a broad perspective on the performance of the labour market in Canada and the United States since the Great Recession. It also presents a simple way to summarize much of this information in a single composite labour market indicator (LMI) for both countries. The LMI suggests that the unemployment rate in Canada has evolved largely in line with overall labour market conditions since the recession, but may have modestly overstated the extent of recent improvement. The U.S. unemployment rate, in contrast, appears to have substantially overstated the post-recession improvement in labour market conditions.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): International topics, Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J23