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Shoe-leather costs of inflation and policy credibility

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Michael R. Pakko

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Abstract

Inflation can cause costly misallocations of resources as consumers seek to protect the purchasing power of their nominal assets. In this article, Michael R. Pakko discusses the nature of these distortions - known as "shoe-leather" costs - in a model where the demand for money is motivated by a "shopping-time" constraint. While the estimates of the shoe-leather costs of long-run inflation (implied by this model) are generally consistent with previous studies, the article goes on to show that the transition between inflation rates can involve dynamics that alter the nature of these welfare effects. Specifically, the benefits of a disinflation policy are mitigated by the gradual adjustment of the economy in response to a lower inflation rate. This transition can be particularly protracted when there is uncertainty about the credibility of the disinflation policy.

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Article provided by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in its journal Review.

Volume (Year): (1998)
Issue (Month): Nov ()
Pages: 37-50
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:y:1998:i:nov:p:37-50:n:6

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Keywords: Inflation (Finance);

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Lucas, Robert E., 1981. "Discussion of : Stanley Fischer, "towards an understanding of the costs of inflation: II"," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 43-52, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Fischer, Stanley, 1981. "Towards an understanding of the costs of inflation: II," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 5-41, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Charles T. Carlstrom & William T. Gavin, 1991. "Zero inflation: transition costs and shoe-leather benefits," Working Paper 9113, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Cooley, Thomas F & Hansen, Gary D, 1989. "The Inflation Tax in a Real Business Cycle Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(4), pages 733-48, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Hamilton, James D, 1989. "A New Approach to the Economic Analysis of Nonstationary Time Series and the Business Cycle," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(2), pages 357-84, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Mulligan, Casey B & Sala-I-Martin, Xavier X, 1997. "The Optimum Quantity of Money: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 29(4), pages 687-715, November.
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  7. David Andolfatto & Paul Gomme, 1997. "Monetary policy regimes and beliefs," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 118, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  8. James Bullard & Steven Russell, 1998. "How costly is sustained low inflation for the U.S. economy?," Working Papers 1997-012, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Michael R. Pakko, 1998. "Dynamic shoe-leather costs in a shopping-time model of money," Working Papers 1998-007, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
  10. Robert J. Shiller, 1996. "Why Do People Dislike Inflation?," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1115, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Imrohoroglu, Ayse, 1992. "The welfare cost of inflation under imperfect insurance," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 79-91, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Karni, Edi, 1974. "The Value of Time and the Demand for Money," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 6(1), pages 45-64, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Robert J. Barro, 1996. "Inflation and growth," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 153-169. [Downloadable!]
  14. Christopher J. Neely & Christopher J. Waller, 1997. "A Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Disinflation," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 15(1), pages 50-64, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Martin Feldstein, 1997. "The Costs and Benefits of Going from Low Inflation to Price Stability," NBER Working Papers 5469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Michael Bruno & William Easterly, 1996. "Inflation and growth: in search of a stable relationship," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 139-146. [Downloadable!]
  17. Dotsey, Michael & Ireland, Peter, 1996. "The welfare cost of inflation in general equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 29-47, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. King, Robert G. & Plosser, Charles I. & Rebelo, Sergio T., 1988. "Production, growth and business cycles : I. The basic neoclassical model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 195-232. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. William T. Gavin & Finn E. Kydland & Michael R. Pakko, 2006. "Monetary policy, taxes and the business cycle," Working Papers 2004-017, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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