IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cdl/ucsdec/qt660465rm.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Existence of Uniqueness of "Money" in General Equilibrium: Natural Monopoly in the Most Liquid Asset

Author

Listed:
  • Starr, Ross M.

Abstract

The monetary character of trade, use of a common medium of exchange, is shown to be an outcome of economic general equilibrium in the presence of transaction costs and market segmentation (in trading posts with a separate budget constraint at each transaction). Commodity money arises endogenously as the most liquid (lowest trasaction cost) asset. Scale economies in transaction cost account for uniqueness of the (fiat or commodity) money in equilibrium, creating a natural monopoly. Trading posts using a medium of exchange create a network externality inducing others' adoption of the same medium. Bertrand monetary equilibria (among competing trading posts) and uniqueness of 'money' are robust to threats of entry. Government-issued fiat money has a positive equilibrium value from its acceptability for tax payments and sustains its natural monopoly through the scale of government economic activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Starr, Ross M., 2002. "Existence of Uniqueness of "Money" in General Equilibrium: Natural Monopoly in the Most Liquid Asset," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt660465rm, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt660465rm
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/660465rm.pdf;origin=repeccitec
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hélène Rey, 2001. "International Trade and Currency Exchange," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 68(2), pages 443-464.
    2. Meenakshi Rajeev, 1999. "Markeless Set-Up vs Trading Posts : A Comparative Analysis," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 53, pages 197-211.
    3. Chichilnisky,Graciela (ed.), 1999. "Markets, Information and Uncertainty," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521553551, October.
    4. Ostroy, Joseph M & Starr, Ross M, 1974. "Money and the Decentralization of Exchange," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(6), pages 1093-1113, November.
    5. Kurz, Mordecai, 1974. "Equilibrium in a Finite Sequence of Markets with Transaction Cost," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(1), pages 1-20, January.
    6. Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro & Wright, Randall, 1989. "On Money as a Medium of Exchange," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 927-954, August.
    7. Jones, Robert A, 1976. "The Origin and Development of Media of Exchange," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 757-775, August.
    8. Starr, Ross M, 1974. "The Price of Money in a Pure Exchange Monetary Economy with Taxation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 42(1), pages 45-54, January.
    9. Clower, Robert W, 1995. "On the Origin of Monetary Exchange," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 33(4), pages 525-536, October.
    10. Howitt, Peter & Clower, Robert, 2000. "The emergence of economic organization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 55-84, January.
    11. Ostroy, Joseph M, 1973. "The Informational Efficiency of Monetary Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(4), pages 597-610, September.
    12. Iwai, Katsuhito, 1996. "The bootstrap theory of money: A search-theoretic foundation of monetary economics," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 451-477, December.
    13. Hahn, F H, 1971. "Equilibrium with Transaction Costs," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(3), pages 417-439, May.
    14. Christian Hellwig, 2000. "Money, Intermediaries and Cash-in-Advance Constraints," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1631, Econometric Society.
    15. Abhijit V. Banerjee & Eric S. Maskin, 1996. "A Walrasian Theory of Money and Barter," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 955-1005.
    16. Li, Yiting & Wright, Randall, 1998. "Government Transaction Policy, Media of Exchange, and Prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 290-313, August.
    17. Ostroy, Joseph M. & Starr, Ross M., 1990. "The transactions role of money," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 3-62, Elsevier.
    18. Trejos, Alberto & Wright, Randall, 1995. "Search, Bargaining, Money, and Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(1), pages 118-141, February.
    19. Marimon, Ramon & McGrattan, Ellen & Sargent, Thomas J., 1990. "Money as a medium of exchange in an economy with artificially intelligent agents," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 329-373, May.
    20. Alchian, Armen A, 1977. "Why Money?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 9(1), pages 133-140, February.
    21. Foley, Duncan K., 1970. "Economic equilibrium with costly marketing," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 276-291, September.
    22. David Starrett, 1973. "Inefficiency and the Demand for "Money" in a Sequence Economy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 40(4), pages 437-448.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ross M. Starr, 2012. "Why is there Money?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13763.
    2. Starr, Ross M., 2003. "Monetary general equilibrium with transaction costs," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 335-354, June.
    3. Starr, Ross M., 2001. "Why Is There Money? Endogenous Derivation of "Money" as the Most Liquid Asset: A Class of Examples," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt2rt3k4r7, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    4. Starr, Ross M., 2000. "Why is there Money? Endogenous Derivation of "Money" as the Most Liquid Asset: A Class of Examples," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt9bm927sh, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    5. Dubey, Pradeep & Sahi, Siddhartha & Shubik, Martin, 2018. "Money as minimal complexity," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 432-451.
    6. Dubey, Pradeep & Sahi, Siddhartha & Shubik, Martin, 2018. "Graphical exchange mechanisms," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 452-465.
    7. Starr, Ross M., 1999. "Why is there Money? Convergence to a Monetary Equilibrium in a General Equilibrium Model with Transaction Costs," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt253553nn, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    8. Ross Starr, 2000. "Why is there Money? Convergence to a Monetary Equilibrium in a General Equilibrium Model with Transaction Costs," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0058, Econometric Society.
    9. Pradeep Dubey & Siddhartha Sahi & Martin Shubik, 2014. "Minimally complex exchange mechanisms: Emergence of prices, markets, and money," Department of Economics Working Papers 14-01, Stony Brook University, Department of Economics.
    10. Starr, Ross M., 2002. "Monetary General Equilibrium With Transaction Costs," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt9bd8861b, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    11. Howitt, Peter & Clower, Robert, 2000. "The emergence of economic organization," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 55-84, January.
    12. Starr, Ross M., 1998. "Monetizing Trade: A Tatonnement Example," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt4mz6w2j1, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    13. Starr, Ross M., 2002. "Monetary General Equilibrium with Transaction Costs," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt5w31m72w, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    14. Rajeev, Meenakshi, 2012. "Search cost, trading strategies and optimal market structure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1757-1765.
    15. Yener Gök, Zeynep, 2018. "Yeni Parasalcılık: Bir Yazın Taraması [New Monetarism: A Survey Of The Literature]," MPRA Paper 88349, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Bewley, Truman, 1983. "A Difficulty with the Optimum Quantity of Money," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(5), pages 1485-1504, September.
    17. Peter Rupert & Martin Schindler & Andrei Shevchenko & Randall Wright, 2000. "The search-theoretic approach to monetary economics: a primer," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Q IV, pages 10-28.
    18. Starr, Ross M., 2006. "Commodity Money Equilibrium in a Walrasian Trading Post Model: An Example," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt3267p6wj, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    19. William Luther, 2016. "Mises and the moderns on the inessentiality of money in equilibrium," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 29(1), pages 1-13, March.
    20. Starr, Ross M, 2005. "Commodity Money Equilibrium in a Walrasian Trading Post Model: An Elementary Example," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt1200q2z3, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt660465rm. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Lisa Schiff (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deucsus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.