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Jealousy and monetary policy

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  • Tervala, Juha

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of jealousy for the welfare effects of monetary policy. Jealousy implies that consumption is like pollution: overconsumption may occur because households do not internalize the costs of their consumption to others. This externality opens the door for a beneficial monetary policy intervention. I show that the welfare effects of monetary policy depend on jealousy, the monopolistic distortion and the utility of real balances. If households are "too jealous," a rise in the money supply reduces welfare by increasing consumption that is already inefficiently high.

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  • Tervala, Juha, 2008. "Jealousy and monetary policy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1797-1802, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:5:p:1797-1802
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jang-Ting Guo, 2005. "Tax Policy Under Keeping Up with the Joneses and Imperfect Competition," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 6(1), pages 25-36, May.
    2. Pierdzioch, Christian, 2003. "Keeping Up with the Joneses: Implications for the Welfare Effects of Monetary Policy in Open Economies," Kiel Working Papers 1166, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Harald Uhlig & Lars Ljungqvist, 2000. "Tax Policy and Aggregate Demand Management under Catching Up with the Joneses," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 356-366, June.
    4. Pierdzioch, Christian & Yener, Serkan, 2004. "On the Welfare Effects of Monetary Policy When Households Try to Keep Up with the Rest of the World," Kiel Working Papers 1198, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Bill Dupor & Wen-Fang Liu, 2003. "Jealousy and Equilibrium Overconsumption," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 423-428, March.
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    1. Tervala, Juha, 2012. "Keeping up with the Joneses and the welfare effects of monetary policy," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 104-111.
    2. Chi‐Ting Chin & Ching‐Chong Lai & Ming‐Ruey Kao, 2010. "Welfare‐Maximising Pricing In A Macroeconomic Model With Imperfect Competition And Consumption Externalities," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 200-208, September.
    3. Alejandro SALAZAR-ADAMS & Nicolás PINEDA-PABLOS, 2010. "Policies for Meeting Future Water Needs in Mexican Cities," EcoMod2010 259600147, EcoMod.

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