D - Microeconomics

• The Impact of Bankruptcy Reform on Insolvency Choice and Consumer Credit

  Staff Working Paper 2016-26 Jason Allen, Kiana Basiri

  We examine the impact of the 2009 amendments to the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act on insolvency decisions. Rule changes steered debtors out of division I proposals and into the more cost-effective division II proposals.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Credit and credit aggregates, Financial institutions, Financial system regulation and policies JEL Code(s): D, D1, D14, G, G2, K, K3, K35
• May 16, 2016

  Estimating Canada’s Effective Lower Bound

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2016 Jonathan Witmer, Jing Yang

  Recently, the Bank of Canada has estimated the effective lower bound (ELB) on its policy interest rate to be about -50 basis points. This article outlines the analysis that underpins that estimate by quantifying the costs of storing and using cash in Canada. It also explores how some international markets have adapted to negative interest rates, issues surrounding their implementation, as well as their transmission to other interest rates in the economy. Finally, it discusses theoretical ideas on how the ELB could be reduced further.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation, Monetary policy transmission JEL Code(s): D, D5, D53, E, E4, E43, E5, E52, E58

• Housing and Tax-Deferred Retirement Accounts

  Staff Working Paper 2016-24 Anson T. Y. Ho, Jie Zhou

  Assets in tax-deferred retirement accounts (TDA) and housing are two major components of household portfolios. In this paper, we develop a life-cycle model to examine the interaction between households’ use of TDA and their housing decisions.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Economic models, Housing JEL Code(s): C, C6, C61, D, D1, D14, D9, D91, E, E2, E21, H, H2, H24, R, R2, R21

• Identification and Estimation of Risk Aversion in First-Price Auctions with Unobserved Auction Heterogeneity

  Staff Working Paper 2016-23 Serafin Grundl, Yu Zhu

  This paper shows point identification in first-price auction models with risk aversion and unobserved auction heterogeneity by exploiting multiple bids from each auction and variation in the number of bidders. The required exclusion restriction is shown to be consistent with a large class of entry models.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Econometric and statistical methods JEL Code(s): C, C1, C14, C5, C57, D, D4, D44, L, L0, L00