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Money is privacy

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Author Info
Charles M. Kahn
James McAndrews
William Roberds

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Abstract

An extensive literature in monetary theory has emphasized the role of money as a record-keeping device. Money assumes this role in situations where using credit would be too costly, and some might argue that this role will diminish as the cost of information, and thus the cost of credit-based transactions, continues to fall. ; In this paper we investigate another use for money: the provision of privacy. That is, a money purchase does not identify the purchaser while a credit purchase does. In a simple trading economy with moral hazard, we compare the efficiency of money is compared with that of credit, and we find that money may be useful even when information is free.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in its series Working Paper with number 2004-18.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:2004-18

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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. Kocherlakota, Narayana & Wallace, Neil, 1998. "Incomplete Record-Keeping and Optimal Payment Arrangements," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 272-289, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Stacey L. Schreft, 2002. "Clicking with dollars : how consumers can pay for purchases from E-tailers," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Q I, pages 37-64. [Downloadable!]
  3. Araujo, Luis, 2004. "Social norms and money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 241-256, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & John Moore, 2004. "Inside Money and Liquidity," ESE Discussion Papers 115, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
  5. Charles M. Kahn & James McAndrews & William Roberds, 2000. "A theory of transactions privacy," Working Paper 2000-22, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Townsend, Robert M, 1989. "Currency and Credit in a Private Information Economy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(6), pages 1323-44, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Ping He & Lixin Huang & Randall Wright, 2005. "Money And Banking In Search Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 46(2), pages 637-670, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Camera, Gabriele, 2001. "Dirty money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 377-415, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Kocherlakota, Narayana R., 1998. "Money Is Memory," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 232-251, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Aiyagari, S. Rao & Williamson, Stephen D., 2000. "Money and Dynamic Credit Arrangements with Private Information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 248-279, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Taub, Bart, 1994. "Currency and Credit Are Equivalent Mechanisms," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(4), pages 921-56, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Kenneth N. Kuttner & James J. McAndrews, 2001. "Personal on-line payments," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Dec, pages 35-50. [Downloadable!]
  13. 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)
  14. Ricardo de O. Cavalcanti & Neil Wallace, 1999. "A model of private bank-note issue," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 2(1), pages 104-136, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Ellison, Glenn, 1994. "Cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma with Anonymous Random Matching," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 61(3), pages 567-88, July. [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. Randall Wright, 2005. "Introduction to ?Models of Monetary Economies II: The Next Generation?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Oct, pages 2-9.
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  2. Charles M. Kahn & William Roberds, 2005. "Credit and identity theft," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
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