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Inflation, liquidity and innovation

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  • Evers, Michael
  • Niemann, Stefan
  • Schiffbauer, Marc

Abstract

We present a simple model with financial frictions where inflation increases the cost faced by firms holding liquid assets to hedge risky production against expenditure shocks. Inflation tilts firms’ technology choice away from innovative activities and toward safer but return-dominated ones, and therefore reduces long-run growth. Our theory makes specific predictions about how the severity of this adverse effect depends on industry characteristics. We test these industry-specific predictions in a generalized difference-in-differences framework with novel harmonized firm-level data from 139 developing countries and a long panel of U.S. firms, overcoming small sample problems constraining previous work. We find that inflation affects the composition but not the overall quantity of investment. Moreover, consistent with our theoretical mechanism, we find that innovating firms display a stronger dependence on liquid assets, which, in turn, are negatively related to inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Evers, Michael & Niemann, Stefan & Schiffbauer, Marc, 2020. "Inflation, liquidity and innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:128:y:2020:i:c:s0014292120301379
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103506
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    Cited by:

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    2. Choi, Sangyup & Furceri, Davide & Loungani, Prakash & Shim, Myungkyu, 2022. "Inflation anchoring and growth: The role of credit constraints," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation; Liquidity; Technology choice; Innovation; Investment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O42 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Monetary Growth Models

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