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Money is memory

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Author Info
Narayana R. Kocherlakota

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Abstract

This paper examines the sets of feasible allocations in a large class of economic environments in which commitment is impossible (the standard definition of feasibility is adapted to take account of the lack of commitment). The environments feature either memory or money. Memory is defined as knowledge on the part of an agent of the full histories of all agents with whom he has had direct or indirect contact in the past. Money is defined as an object that does not enter preferences or production and is available in fixed supply. The main proposition proves that any allocation that is feasible in an environment with money is also feasible in the same environment with memory. Depending on the environment, the converse may or may not be true. Hence, from a technological point of view, money is equivalent to a primitive form of memory.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in its series Staff Report with number 218.

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Date of creation: 1996
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmsr:218

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Related research
Keywords: Money ; Money theory CL HG2567 M5A71;

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  1. Advanced Monetary Theory and Policy (ECON 447)
  2. Top 1‰ items by number of citations weighted by simple impact factors and discounted by age
References listed on IDEAS
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. Aiyagari, S Rao & Wallace, Neil, 1991. "Existence of Steady States with Positive Consumption in the Kiyotaki-Wright Model," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 58(5), pages 901-16, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Mark Huggett & Stefan Krasa, 1996. "Money and storage in a differential information economy (*)," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 8(2), pages 191-209.
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  3. 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)
  4. Ireland, Peter N., 1994. "Economic growth, financial evolution, and the long-run behavior of velocity," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 18(3-4), pages 815-848. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Aiyagari, S.R. & Williamson, S.D., 1997. "Credit in a Random Matching Model with Private Information," Working Papers 97-03, University of Iowa, Department of Economics.
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  6. Ostroy, Joseph M, 1973. "The Informational Efficiency of Monetary Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(4), pages 597-610, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Steve Williamson & Randall Wright, 1991. "Barter and monetary exchange under private information," Staff Report 141, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Satyajit Chatterjee & Dean Corbae, 1994. "Money and finance in a model of costly commitment," Working Papers 94-25, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
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  9. Townsend, Robert M, 1987. "Economic Organization with Limited Communication," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 954-71, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Trejos, Alberto & Wright, Randall, 1995. "Search, Bargaining, Money, and Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 118-41, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  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. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1980. "Equilibrium in a Pure Currency Economy," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 203-20, April.
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