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The cost of inflation: a mechanism design approach

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  • Guillaume Rocheteau

Abstract

I apply mechanism design to quantify the cost of inflation that can be attributed to monetary frictions alone. In an environment with pairwise meetings, the money demand that is consistent with a constrained-efficient allocation takes the form of a continuous correspondence that can fit the data over the period 1900-2006. For such parameterizations, the cost of moderate inflation is zero. This result is robust to different assumptions regarding the observability of money holdings, the introduction of match-specific heterogeneity, and endogeneous participation decisions.

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  • Guillaume Rocheteau, 2011. "The cost of inflation: a mechanism design approach," Working Papers (Old Series) 1103, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwp:1103
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    Cited by:

    1. Hu, Tai-Wei & Rocheteau, Guillaume, 2013. "On the coexistence of money and higher-return assets and its social role," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(6), pages 2520-2560.
    2. Athanasios Geromichalos & Kuk Mo Jung, 2019. "Monetary policy and efficiency in over-the-counter financial trade," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1699-1754, November.
    3. Manjong Lee & Sung Guan Yun, 2014. "Composition of Portfolio and Cost of Inflation," Discussion Paper Series 1403, Institute of Economic Research, Korea University.
    4. Bajaj, Ayushi & Hu, Tai-Wei & Rocheteau, Guillaume & Silva, Mario Rafael, 2017. "Decentralizing constrained-efficient allocations in the Lagos–Wright pure currency economy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-13.
    5. Dong, Mei & Jiang, Janet Hua, 2014. "Money and price posting under private information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 740-777.
    6. Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Sanches, Daniel, 2019. "Can currency competition work?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-15.
    7. Baughman, Garth & Rabinovich, Stanislav, 2021. "Capacity choice, monetary trade, and the cost of inflation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    8. Wong, Tsz-Nga, 2016. "Monetary exchange and the irreducible cost of inflation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 218-229.
    9. Jonathan Chiu & Tsz-Nga Wong, 2015. "On the Essentiality of E-Money," Staff Working Papers 15-43, Bank of Canada.
    10. Tai‐Wei Hu & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2015. "Monetary Policy and Asset Prices: A Mechanism Design Approach," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(S2), pages 39-76, June.
    11. Anbarci, Nejat & Dutu, Richard & Feltovich, Nick, 2015. "Inflation tax in the lab: a theoretical and experimental study of competitive search equilibrium with inflation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 17-33.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation (Finance) - Mathematical models; Demand for money; Monetary theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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