Not quite as advertised: Canada’s managed float in the 1950s and Bank of Canada intervention

Canada has perhaps the longest track record of adhering to a floating exchange rate regime, but it may well also have been the first country to adopt a managed float during the 1950s. In spite of criticisms levelled at the Canadian government’s decision to float the dollar, the remarkable feature of the behaviour of the exchange rate during the so-called float is the relative stability of the nominal exchange rate, and the small volatility in its movements. This article stresses the impact of foreign exchange intervention in limiting exchange rate appreciations and in moderating exchange rate volatility, using newly found, and heretofore unused, intervention data. Until now, all studies of Canada’s experience with the float have relied on official foreign exchange reserves data. A counterfactual experiment also suggests that nominal exchange rate levels, and variability, would have been different had there been no foreign exchange market intervention

A quasi-optimal coarse problem and an augmented Krylov solver for the Variational Theory of Complex Rays

The Variational Theory of Complex Rays (VTCR) is an indirect Trefftz method designed to study systems governed by Helmholtz-like equations. It uses wave functions to represent the solution inside elements, which reduces the dispersion error compared to classical polynomial approaches but the resulting system is prone to be ill conditioned. This paper gives a simple and original presentation of the VTCR using the discontinuous Galerkin framework and it traces back the ill-conditioning to the accumulation of eigenvalues near zero for the formulation written in terms of wave amplitude. The core of this paper presents an efficient solving strategy that overcomes this issue. The key element is the construction of a search subspace where the condition number is controlled at the cost of a limited decrease of attainable precision. An augmented LSQR solver is then proposed to solve efficiently and accurately the complete system. The approach is successfully applied to different examples.Comment: International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Wiley, 201

Preparation of organic hydrazides

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityDue to the actual high price of hydrazine, this chemical cannot be used in an economical preparation of organic hydrazides. A synthesis of such hydrazides can be envisaged by the reduction of N-nitroamides. The problem is then to find a set of conditions under which no hydrogenolysis of the nitrogen-nitrogen bond occurs. This had been done with N-nitrocarbamates and it was hoped that the results could be extended to N-nitroamides: N-Nitro-N-methylamides were actually used in order to have a more stable N-nitro group. Dimethylation of the hydrazine could be performed either by acid hydrolysis of the addition product obtained with diethyl azodicarboxylate or by heating with pyridinium chloride. After failure to reduce p-N-dinitro-N-methylbenzamide to hydrazine, a new technique was experienced by which the amide was nitrated and reduced directly without isolation of the N-nitroamide. Preliminary results suggested that the electron shifting ability of the R group in molecules of the type R CO-N(NO2)CH3 is very important in their reduction to hydrazine. Several molecules were then reduced with different R. It was found that the yield of hydrazine increases with the electron repelling ability if R. A mechanism involving formation of an unstable platinum hydride is proposed for the reaction. A survery of the addition reactions of azodicarboxylic esters is given with the description of an attempt of "Azo reaction" between diethyl azodicarboxylate and p-N-dinitro-N-methylbenzamide

The FedÕs Reaction to the Stock Market During the Great Depression: Fact or Artefact?

A notable feature of the 1920s and 1930s is the volatility in several key macroeconomic aggregates, and this feature used to econometrically identify the reaction of the Fed to stock market developments. The volatility of economic activity may have contributed to deepening the divisions among policy-makers about how the Fed ought to respond to stock price developments. Relying on the technique of Rigobon (2003), volatility is used as an instrument to estimate the FedÕs response to the stock market. Other identification assumptions based on structural VARs produce compatible results. Fed behavior appeared to have changed following the stock market crash of 1929. Consistent with the Riefler-Burgess doctrine, interest rates and stock returns are negatively related. I conclude that, prior to the stock market crash of 1929, a form of benign neglect explains Fed behavior. Thereafter, the Fed reacts only slightly more aggressively to stock market developments.

As Good As It Gets? The International Dimension to Canada's Monetary Policy Strategy Choices

The Bank of Canada must take account of the international environment, where inflation targeting has become widespread, as it considers Canada’s future options. This study examines international experience with monetary policy over the past decade and the consequences of the worldwide spread of inflation-control regimes for Canada’s targeting program, which expires on December 31, 2011.monetary policy, Bank of Canada, inflation targeting

Emerging Market Yield Spreads: Domestic, External Determinants, and Volatility Spillovers

This study examines the determinants of bond yield spreads for 22 emerging markets in the period 1998-2009. In addition to the usual EMBI index data from credit default swaps (CDS) are also used. Three sets of determinants are considered: domestic, external, and institutional factors. In addition, I consider the connection between volatility and bond yield spreads. Volatility, and central bank transparency, are two factors common to all countries examined whereas clear idiosyncrasies are found according to whether emerging markets are in Latin and South America, Europe, Asia or Africa. Most notably, the global financial financial crisis did not impact yield spreads in Asia which suggests that, in a sense, bond markets in that region were decoupled from those in other parts of the world.emerging markets, yield spreads, volatility, transparency