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Description:

This paper empirically illustrates the impact of ongoing changes to Canada's terms of trade. It provides a discussion of how the terms of trade are measured and how to interpret terms of trade shifts. Examples of two major factors affecting Canada's terms of trade are provided, followed by an empirical analysis of how the terms of trade improvements that began in early 2003 have affected consumption, investment and import activity. The paper concludes by illustrating why final domestic demand growth has outpaced real GDP growth since 2003.

Description:

This paper empirically illustrates the impact of ongoing changes to Canada's terms of trade. It provides a discussion of how the terms of trade are measured and how to interpret terms of trade shifts. Examples of two major factors affecting Canada's terms of trade are provided, followed by an empirical analysis of how the terms of trade improvements that began in early 2003 have affected consumption, investment and import activity. The paper concludes by illustrating why final domestic demand growth has outpaced real GDP growth since 2003.

Description:

Home ownership is very important to the vast majority of Canadians. Young adults are no different from the general population in this respect. To what extent do young adults succeed in making this desire a reality? What are the characteristics of those young people who own their home, and what are the obstacles to home ownership? Using data from the 2006 General Social Survey on family transitions, this article answers these questions by identifying the different factors associated with home ownership among young people aged 25 to 39 who no longer live with their parents.

Description:

Natural resources, including energy, timber and minerals, contribute significantly to Canada's total wealth. This article examines the growth in resource wealth, from 1997 to 2006. It also describes the changes in natural resource prices, reserves and extraction costs.

Description:

Effective with the 2006 Provincial Economic Accounts release on November 8, 2007, the expenditure-based gross domestic product (GDP) will be converted to a 2002 reference year for its volume and price estimates.

On October 31, 2007, the monthly gross domestic product (GDP) by industry estimates will use the North American Industry Classification System, NAICS 2002, and will convert to reference year 2002 for its volume estimates.

Description:

This article looks in more detail at how the commodity boom has affected our primary industries over the last 5 years, notably the shift from forestry to energy and mining. Rather than being 'hewers of wood and drawers of water', it is more accurate to say 'conveyors of crude and moilers of metals'.

Description: This paper examines the impact of import and export price changes on economic welfare in Canada, and in each of the provinces. It examines how terms of trade shifts and fluctuations in the ratio of traded to non-traded goods prices affect the purchasing power of domestic production. Terms of trade shifts are shown to have a larger impact in the short-run. Moreover, the paper shows that failing to account for terms of trade shifts, when analysing macroeconomic data, can lead to misinterpretations about the sources of growth or decline in consumption, investment and imports. The magnitude and direction of terms of trade fluctuations, and their impacts, vary by province and over time. Changes in commodity prices are shown to have important effects. The effect of terms of trade shifts is largest in Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, while Manitoba is relatively unaffected.

Description:

To model economic depreciation, a database is used that contains information on assets discarded by companies. The acquisition and resale prices are known along with the length of use of these assets. However, the assets for which prices are known are only those that were involved in a transaction. While an asset depreciates on a continuous basis during its service life, the value of the asset is only known when there has been a transaction. This article proposes an ex post weighting to offset the effect of source of error in building econometric models.

Description:

This study examines recent trends in the Canadian softwood lumber industry in Canada up to 2006. Trends in shipments, production, exports, productivity, innovation and financial results are analysed in the context of recent economic and commercial pressures affecting the industry.

Description:

The National Tourism Indicators will be revised back to 2001 and their volume and price estimates converted to a 2002 reference year, effective June 29, 2007.

Description:

This publication contains data from 1976 to date for major livestock series: cattle and calves, hogs, sheep and lambs, wool, furs, trade and prices, stocks of frozen meats, and apparent per capita meat consumption. Data highlights are also included. New and revised estimates for these data are released four times a year.

Description: In the 1997 edition, new and revised benchmarks were introduced for 1992 and 1988. The indicators are used to monitor supply, demand and employment for tourism in Canada on a timely basis. The annual tables are derived using the National Income and Expenditure Accounts (NIEA) and various industry and travel surveys. Tables providing actual data and percentage changes, for seasonally adjusted current and constant price estimates are included. In addition, an analytical section provides graphs, and time series of first differences, percentage changes, and seasonal factors for selected indicators. Data are published from 1987 and the publication will be available on the day of release. New data are included in the demand tables for non-tourism commodities produced by non-tourism industries and in the employment tables covering direct tourism employment generated by non-tourism industries. This product was commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission to provide annual updates for the Tourism Satellite Account.

Description:

This publication, prepared in conjunction with the Canadian Grain Commission, provides a comprehensive look at the past crop year. Included are key data series on production, stocks, cash and future prices, crop quality, domestic processing, grain handlings and detailed supply-disposition analyses. A written overview summarizes the year's market conditions, domestically and internationally.

Description:

This occasional on-line bulletin series presents price indexes published by the Goods and Services Producing Industries Section, Prices Division. Each issue will contain different service price indexes.

Description:

Over the past few decades, the fight against pollution of the environment has gone from the fringe to being fashionable to being controversial and, perhaps, even considered to be life threatening. A great debate now rages worldwide with regards to human-generated greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and their impact on the environment.

Description: The Prices Analytical Series provides research and analysis pertaining to price indices. The Analytical series is intended to stimulate discussion on a variety of topics related to the analysis of the evolution of prices through time or space.

Description: This technical guide describes the estimation of the Residential Renovation Price Index (RRPI). It explains the component cost methodology, the aggregation structure, and the data sources used to derive price relatives that are appropriately aggregated to estimate the index. The RRPI measures the quarterly change over time in the prices that contractors charge to complete a range of residential renovation projects.

Description: This infographic details the food supply chain by focusing on the price movements for wheat-based food products in 2023 and the costs to move food products from producers to consumers. Since March 2022, some costs along the supply chain have declined while others remained elevated. Prices for bread, pasta and cereal at the grocery store continued to increase in 2023 but at a slower pace compared with 2022.

Description: This paper looks at how profitability has evolved for key Canadian industries from 2017 to 2022. A specific focus is given to the post-lockdown period between the second quarters of 2021 and 2022, during which year-over-year inflation exceeded the Bank of Canada’s inflation-control target range ceiling of 3%. In addition to industry-wide trends, energy and food sectors are analyzed given their day-to-day relevance for Canadians.

Description: This paper describes the composition of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket and the changes introduced with the 2023 basket update, based on 2022 expenditure weights.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic affected the Canadian economy in numerous ways, one of which was changing the relationship between growth in production, and changes in real consumption and real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF). Typically, real consumption and real GFCF are expected to progress similarly to real gross domestic product (GDP), however during the period covered by the COVID-19 pandemic, real consumption and real GFCF grew at a stronger pace than real GDP. This article illustrates how examining real income rather than real production can address this paradox. Specifically, the roles of changes in production (the use of capital, labour and multifactor productivity used to produce real GDP) and changes in non-production sources of real income growth (the trading gain and net income from abroad) are examined.

Description: This article presents the data sources and methodology for the Couriers and Messengers Services Price Index (CMSPI). The CMSPI measures the monthly change in the price of shipping services provided to households and businesses by delivery companies in Canada. The index is an indicator of economic activity within the courier and messenger services industry, as well as a tool that can be utilized by the industry for cost monitoring, contract assessment and benchmark comparisons.

Description: This infographic details the food supply chain by focusing on the price movements for wheat-based food products in March 2022, and the costs to move food products from producers to consumers.

Description: Rising wages and prices have characterized 2021 and 2022. Soaring unit labour costs have raised competitiveness concerns. This article examines the relationship between real wages and productivity to see whether real wage growth (growth in real total compensation per hour worked) has lagged behind labour productivity growth in recent years. It examines whether the result is sensitive to differences in the definition of real wages.

Description: To better understand the unprecedented volatility in lumber prices and the ensuing price transmission, this analysis evaluates the price movements across the domestic supply chain for lumber since the summer of 2020 using producer price indexes.

Description: The Post Indexes are a collection of spatial price indexes for Government of Canada staff posted abroad that compare the cost of purchasing a fixed basket of goods and services between the post locations and Ottawa. These indexes are constructed as part of Foreign Service Directive 55.

Description:

This Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) Reference Paper provides an overview the Canadian CPI. It is intended for a varied audience, ranging from users interested in general information to those requiring more technical or theoretical details. As such, it explains all the important aspects of the Canadian CPI: uses and interpretations, scope, classifications, sample strategy, price collection, index calculation, quality change, weights, basket updates, reliability and uncertainty, special cases and treatments and history.

Description:

The methodology for estimating the Flows and Stocks of Fixed Capital has been redeveloped to ensure greater coherence of the capital stock program within the Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (CSMA). This is done by incorporating investment flows directly from the CSMA on a detailed industry/asset basis. The data released will be based on the input-output final demand classification, with updated per asset depreciation profiles and prices.

Description:

Canadian international merchandise trade data are released monthly and may be revised in subsequent releases as new information becomes available. These data are released approximately 35 days following the close of the reference period and represent one of the timeliest economic indicators produced by Statistics Canada. Given their timeliness, some of the data are not received in time and need to be estimated or modelled. This is the case for imports and exports of crude petroleum and natural gas. More specifically, at the time of release, energy trade data are based on an incomplete set of information and are revised as Statistics Canada and National Energy Board information becomes available in the subsequent months. Due to the increasing importance of energy imports and exports and the timeliness of the data, the revisions to energy prices and volumes are having an increasingly significant impact on the monthly revision to Canada’s trade balance. This note explains how the estimates in the initial release are made when data sources are not yet available, and how the original data are adjusted in subsequent releases.

Description:

Statistics Canada produces monthly import and export merchandise trade price indexes. For the majority of these prices, Statistics Canada uses a variety of proxy measures to derive the price index in lieu of collecting observed import and export prices. The ability of these proxy measures to reflect international trade price movements during times of exchange rate volatility is limited. For this reason, the constant dollar trade estimates derived using these proxy price indexes have been refined with constant dollar adjustments following the appreciation of the Canadian exchange rate beginning at the end of 2002. This paper explains the rational and methodology behind these adjustments, as well as the impact on published trade and GDP estimates.

Description:

Effective with the 2006 Provincial Economic Accounts release on November 8, 2007, the expenditure-based gross domestic product (GDP) will be converted to a 2002 reference year for its volume and price estimates.

On October 31, 2007, the monthly gross domestic product (GDP) by industry estimates will use the North American Industry Classification System, NAICS 2002, and will convert to reference year 2002 for its volume estimates.

Description:

The National Tourism Indicators will be revised back to 2001 and their volume and price estimates converted to a 2002 reference year, effective June 29, 2007.

Description:

The expenditure-based gross domestic product (GDP) and associated components will be converted to a 2002 reference year for its volume and price estimates, effective May 31, 2007.

Description:

This document describes the sources, concepts and methods utilized by the Canadian Productivity Accounts and discusses how they compare with their U.S. counterparts.

Description:

This teacher's kit helps students understand how the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflects price changes for the goods and services they buy.

The Custom Inflation Simulator is a Web-based resource that demonstrates how the many consumer goods and services in the 'basket' are used to calculate the CPI, and how consumption patterns differ from person to person. Using the simulator, students can also see the effect of individual price increases on overall inflation, in other words how each item in the basket is 'weighted' to reflect its importance in Canadians' consumption patterns.