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State-dependent pricing, inflation, and welfare in search economies

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Author Info
Ben R. Craig
Guillaume Rocheteau

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Abstract

This paper investigates the welfare effects of inflation in economies with search frictions and menu costs. We first analyze an economy where there is no transaction demand for money balances: Money is a mere unit of account. We determine a condition under which price stability is optimal and a condition under which positive inflation is desirable. We relate these conditions to a standard efficiency condition for search economies. Second, we consider a related economy in which there is a transaction role for money. In the absence of menu costs, the Friedman rule is optimal. In the presence of menu costs, the optimal inflation rate is negative for all our numerical examples. A deviation from the Friedman rule can be optimal depending on the extent of the search externalities.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland in its series Working Paper with number 0504.

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Date of creation: 2005
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwp:0504

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Keywords: Inflation (Finance) Money Monetary policy

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Benabou, Roland, 1992. "Inflation and Efficiency in Search Markets," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 59(2), pages 299-329, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Mark Bils and Peter J. Klenow, 2004. "Some Evidence on the Importance of Sticky Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 947-985, October.
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  3. Aubhik Khan & Robert G. King & Alexander L. Wolman, 2002. "Optimal Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 9402, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Peter A. Diamond, 1988. "Search, Sticky Prices, and Inflation," Working papers 509, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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  5. Stephen Williamson, 2004. "Search, Limited Participation, and Monetary Policy," 2004 Meeting Papers 214, Society for Economic Dynamics. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Bester, Helmut, 1994. "Price commitment in search markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 109-120, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Caplin, Andrew & Leahy, John, 1991. "State-Dependent Pricing and the Dynamics of Money and Output," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 106(3), pages 683-708, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Allen Head & Alok Kumar, 2005. "Price Dispersion, Inflation, And Welfare," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 46(2), pages 533-572, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Caplin, Andrew S & Spulber, Daniel F, 1987. "Menu Costs and the Neutrality of Money," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 703-25, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Mikhail Golosov & Robert E. Lucas, 2003. "Menu Costs and Phillips Curves," NBER Working Papers 10187, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Ricardo Lagos & Randall Wright, 2002. "A unified framework for monetary theory and policy analysis," Working Paper 0211, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Michael Dotsey & Robert G. King & Alexander L. Wolman, 1999. "State-Dependent Pricing And The General Equilibrium Dynamics Of Money And Output," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(2), pages 655-690, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Wright, Randall, 1993. "A Search-Theoretic Approach to Monetary Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 63-77, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Hosios, Arthur J, 1990. "On the Efficiency of Matching and Related Models of Search and Unemployment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(2), pages 279-98, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Wright, Randall, 1991. "A contribution to the pure theory of money," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 215-235, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Sheshinski, Eytan & Weiss, Yoram, 1977. "Inflation and Costs of Price Adjustment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(2), pages 287-303, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Levy, Daniel, et al, 1997. "The Magnitude of Menu Costs: Direct Evidence from Large U.S. Supermarket Chains," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(3), pages 791-825, August.
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  18. Benabou, Roland, 1988. "Search, Price Setting and Inflation," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(3), pages 353-76, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Diamond, Peter A., 1971. "A model of price adjustment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 156-168, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Guillaume Rocheteau & Randall Wright, 2003. "Money in Search Equilibrium, in Competitive Equilibrium, and in Competitive Search Equilibrium," PIER Working Paper Archive 03-031, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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  21. Huberto M. Ennis, 2004. "Search, money, and inflation under private information," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 142, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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Full references

Cited by:
(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. Ben Craig & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2006. "Inflation and welfare: a search approach," Policy Discussion Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Jan. [Downloadable!]
  2. Allen Head & Alok Kumar & Beverly Lapham, 2006. "Market Power, Price Adjustment, and Inflation," Working Papers 1089, Queen's University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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