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Why Is There Money? Convergence to a Monetary Equilibrium in a General Equilibrium Model with Transaction Costs

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Author Info
Ross M. Starr
Abstract

This paper presents a class of examples where a nonmonetary economy converges in a tatonnement process to a monetary equilibrium. Exchange takes place in organized markets characterized by an array of trading posts where each pair of goods may be traded for one another. A barter equilibrium with m commodities is characterized by m(m-1)/2 commodity pair trading posts, most of which host active trade. A monetary equilibrium with unique money is characterized by active trade concentrated on m-1 posts, those trading in 'money' versus the m-1 nonmonetary commodities. There are two distinct sources of monetization: absence of double coincidence of wants and scale economies in transaction costs. As households discover that some pairwise markets (those dealing in the 'natural' money or those with high trading volumes) have lower transaction costs, they restructure their trades to take advantage of the low cost. Use of media of exchange arises endogenously from their low transaction cost. Uniqueness of the medium of exchange in equilibrium results from scale economies in the transaction technology.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC San Diego in its series University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series with number 99-23.

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Date of creation: Nov 1999
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:99-23

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  1. Hahn, F H, 1971. "Equilibrium with Transaction Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(3), pages 417-39, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Eric S. Maskin, 1996. "A Walrasian Theory of Money," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1753, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  3. Li, Yiting & Wright, Randall, 1998. "Government Transaction Policy, Media of Exchange, and Prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 290-313, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Ostroy, Joseph M. & Starr, Ross M., 1990. "The transactions role of money," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 3-62 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Starrett, David A, 1973. "Inefficiency and the Demand for "Money" in a Sequence Economy," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(4), pages 437-48, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Ostroy, Joseph M & Starr, Ross M, 1974. "Money and the Decentralization of Exchange," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(6), pages 1093-1113, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Foley, Duncan K., 1970. "Economic equilibrium with costly marketing," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 276-291, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Maskin, Eric S, 1996. "A Walrasian Theory of Money and Barter," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(4), pages 955-1005, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Wright, Randall, 1989. "On Money as a Medium of Exchange," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 927-54, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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