In this comment on Fortin (1996), the authors argue that the sluggishness in economic activity in Canada in the 1990s is better explained by a combination of factors than by monetary policy alone. They find that: (1) it is difficult to explain the sluggishness on the basis of the historical...

This paper provides a detailed empirical analysis of Canadian city housing prices. We examine the long-run relationship between city house prices in Canada from 1985 to 2005 as well as idiosyncratic relations between city prices and city-specific variables. The results suggest that city house...

What are the steady-state implications of inflation in a general-equilibrium model with real per capita output growth and staggered nominal price and wage contracts? Surprisingly, a benchmark calibration implies an optimal inflation rate of -1.9 percent. The analysis also shows that trend...

In both the canonical and many extended versions of the New Keynesian model, optimal monetary policy under commitment implies price-level stationarity as long as expectations are rational. We show that this is no longer the case if the central bank and private agents make decisions before...