Patrick Alexander
Senior Economist
Ph.D., Queen's University
Bio
Patrick Alexander is a Senior Economist in the International Economic Analysis Department. His primary research interests include international trade, macroeconomics and applied econometrics. Patrick Alexander received his Ph.D. in Economics from Queen’s University.
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Staff Analytical Notes
Assessing Global Potential Output Growth
This note estimates potential output growth for the global economy through 2019. While there is considerable uncertainty surrounding our estimates, overall we expect global potential output growth to rise modestly, from 3.1 per cent in 2016 to 3.4 per cent in 2019.Staff Discussion Papers
An Improved Equation for Predicting Canadian Non-Commodity Exports
We estimate two new equations for Canadian non-commodity exports (NCX) that incorporate three important changes relative to the current equation used at the Bank of Canada.Staff Working Papers
Exchange Rates, Retailers, and Importing: Theory and Firm-Level Evidence
We develop a model with firm heterogeneity in importing and cross-border shopping among consumers. Exchange-rate appreciations lower the cost of imported goods, but also lead to more cross-border shopping; hence, the net impact on aggregate retail prices and sales is ambiguous.Responding to the First Era of Globalization: Canadian Trade Policy, 1870–1913
In this paper we document Canada’s trade policy response to late-nineteenth- and earlytwentieth-century globalization. We link newly digitized annual product-specific data on the value of Canadian imports and duties paid from 1870–1913 to establishment-specific production and location information drawn from the manuscripts of the 1871 industrial census.Did U.S. Consumers Respond to the 2014–2015 Oil Price Shock? Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey
The impact of oil price shocks on the U.S. economy is a topic of considerable debate. In this paper, we examine the response of U.S. consumers to the 2014–2015 negative oil price shock using representative survey data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey.The Welfare Effects of Protection: A General Equilibrium Analysis of Canada’s National Policy
In this paper, we study the impact of Canada’s adoption of protectionist trade policy in 1879 on Canadian welfare. Under the National Policy the Canadian average weighted tariff increased from 14% to 21%. The conventional view is that this was a distortionary policy that negatively affected Canadian welfare.Vertical Specialization and Gains from Trade
Multi-stage production is widely recognized as an important feature of the modern global economy. This feature has been incorporated into many state-of-the-art quantitative trade models, and has been shown to deliver significant additional gains from international trade.Producer Heterogeneity, Value-Added, and International Trade
Standard new trade models depict producers as heterogeneous in total factor productivity. In this paper, I adapt the Eaton and Kortum (2002) model of international trade to incorporate tradable intermediate goods and producer heterogeneity in value-added productivity.Journal Publications
Refereed journals
- "Did U.S. Consumers Respond to the 2014-2015 Oil Price Shock? Evidence from the Consumer Expenditure Survey" (with Louis Poirier), forthcoming in The Energy Journal.
- "Responding to the First Era of Globalization: Canadian Trade Policy, 1870–1913"
(with Ian Keay), Journal of Economy History, 2019, 79(3). - "A general equilibrium analysis of Canada’s national policy"
(with Ian Keay), Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), 2018, pages 1-15.