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Monetary policy and labor market frictions: A tax interpretation

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  • Ravenna, Federico
  • Walsh, Carl E.

Abstract

Replicating the flexible price allocation in models with nominal rigidities and labor market frictions that lead to an inefficient matching of unemployed workers with job vacancies, even if feasible, is generally not desirable. We characterize the tax instruments that implement the first best allocation and examine the trade-offs faced by monetary policy if these tax instruments are unavailable. Our tax interpretation helps explain why the welfare cost of inefficient labor market search can be large while the incentive to deviate from price stability is small. Gains from deviating from price stability are larger in economies with more volatile labor flows.

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  • Ravenna, Federico & Walsh, Carl E., 2012. "Monetary policy and labor market frictions: A tax interpretation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 180-195.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:59:y:2012:i:2:p:180-195
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2012.01.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Lien Laureys, 2014. "Optimal Monetary Policy in the Presence of Human Capital Depreciation during Unemployment," Discussion Papers 1415, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    2. Davide Debortoli & Jinill Kim & Jesper Lindé & Ricardo Nunes, 2019. "Designing a Simple Loss Function for Central Banks: Does a Dual Mandate Make Sense?," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(621), pages 2010-2038.
    3. Antoine Lepetit, 2020. "Asymmetric Unemployment Fluctuations and Monetary Policy Trade-Offs," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 29-45, April.
    4. repec:fip:fedkrw:15-05 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Pedro, Gomis-Porqueras, 2016. "Fiscal Requirements for Price Stability in Economies with Private Provision of Liquidity and Unemployment," MPRA Paper 75113, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Chugh, Sanjay K., 2013. "Costly external finance and labor market dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 2882-2912.
    7. Wei, Xiaoyun & Han, Liyan, 2020. "Targeted reduction in reserve requirement ratio and optimal monetary policy in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 209-230.
    8. Troy Davig & Refet S. Gürkaynak, 2015. "Is Optimal Monetary Policy Always Optimal?," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 11(4), pages 353-382, September.
    9. Sergio A. Lago Alves, 2018. "Monetary Policy, Trend Inflation, and Unemployment Volatility," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(4), pages 637-673, June.
    10. Bodenstein, Martin & Kamber, Güneş & Thoenissen, Christoph, 2018. "Commodity prices and labour market dynamics in small open economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 170-184.
    11. Walsh, Carl E, 2014. "Multiple Objectives and Central Bank Tradeoffs Under Flexible Inflation Targeting," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt3pq021t5, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    12. Antoine Lepetit, 2020. "Asymmetric Unemployment Fluctuations and Monetary Policy Trade-Offs," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 29-45, April.
    13. Pierrick Clerc, 2021. "The Dynamics of Unemployment and Inflation in New Keynesian Models with Two Labor Margins," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(2-3), pages 301-332, March.
    14. Pedro Gomis‐Porqueras, 2020. "Fiscal Requirements for Dynamic and Real Determinacies in Economies with Private Provision of Liquidity: A Monetarist Assessment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(1), pages 229-267, February.
    15. Nils M. Gornemann & Keith Kuester & Makoto Nakajima, 2016. "Doves for the Rich, Hawks for the Poor? Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy," International Finance Discussion Papers 1167, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    16. P. Clerc, 2015. "Credible Wage Bargaining and the Joint Dynamics of Unemployment and Inflation," Working papers 568, Banque de France.
    17. Raissi, Mehdi, 2015. "Flexible inflation targeting and labor market inefficiencies," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 283-300.
    18. Arnildo Da Silva Correa & Sergio Afonso Lago Alves, 2016. "A Tale Of Three Gaps: Unemployment, Capacity Utilization And Output," Anais do XLII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 42nd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 031, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    19. Carlsson, Mikael & Westermark, Andreas, 2016. "Labor market frictions and optimal steady-state inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 67-79.

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