  We introduce new aspects in conformal geometry of some very natural
second-order differential operators. These operators are termed shift
operators. In the flat space, they are intertwining operators which are closely
related to symmetry breaking differential operators. In the curved case, they
are closely connected with ideas of holography and the works of
Fefferman-Graham, Gover-Waldron and one of the authors. In particular, we
obtain an alternative description of the so-called residue families in
conformal geometry in terms of compositions of shift operators. This relation
allows easy new proofs of some of their basic properties. In addition, we
derive new holographic formulas for $Q$-curvatures in even dimension. Since
these turn out to be equivalent to earlier holographic formulas, the novelty
here is their conceptually very natural proof. The overall discussion leads to
a unification of constructions in representation theory and conformal geometry.
