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The Optimal Inflation Rate with Discount Factor Heterogeneity

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  • Antoine Lepetit

    (Boards of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)

Abstract

This paper shows that deviations from long-run price stability are optimal in the presence of price stickiness whenever profit and utility flows are discounted at a different rate. In that case, a monetary authority acting under commitment will choose a path for the inflation rate that ends with a non-zero value. Such a property is relevant in a wide range of macroeconomic environments. I first illustrate this by studying optimal monetary policy in a New Keynesian model with a perpetual youth structure. In this setting, profit flows are discounted more heavily than utility flows and the optimal inflation target is equal to 3.2 percent in a baseline calibration of the model. I also show that this property leads to a positive long-run inflation rate in models with firm entry and exit and in environments with search and matching frictions in the labor market and another form of nominal rigidity, wage stickiness.

Suggested Citation

  • Antoine Lepetit, 2017. "The Optimal Inflation Rate with Discount Factor Heterogeneity," Working Papers hal-01527816, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01527816
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01527816v3
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    Cited by:

    1. Dennery, Charles, 2019. "Dampened expectations in the Phillips Curve: A note," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Philippe Andrade & Jordi Gali & Herve Le Bihan & Julien Matheron, 2019. "The Optimal Inflation Target and the Natural Rate of Interest," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(2 (Fall)), pages 173-255.
    3. Garcia-Hiernaux, Alfredo & Gonzalez-Perez, Maria T. & Guerrero, David E., 2023. "Eurozone prices: A tale of convergence and divergence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    4. Christopher D. Cotton, 2020. "The Inflation Target and the Equilibrium Real Rate," Working Papers 20-2, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    5. Ippei Fujiwara & Shunsuke Hori & Yuichiro Waki, 2019. "Generational War on Inflation: Optimal Inflation Rates for the Young and the Old," Globalization Institute Working Papers 372, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
    6. Volker Hahn, 2022. "Price Dispersion and the Costs of Inflation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(2-3), pages 459-491, March.
    7. Cecion, Martina & Coenen, Günter & Gerke, Rafael & Le Bihan, Hervé & Motto, Roberto & Aguilar, Pablo & Ajevskis, Viktors & Giesen, Sebastian & Albertazzi, Ugo & Gilbert, Niels & Al-Haschimi, Alexander, 2021. "The ECB’s price stability framework: past experience, and current and future challenges," Occasional Paper Series 269, European Central Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    optimal inflation rate; inflation target; sticky prices; optimal monetary policy; discount factor heterogeneity; perpetual youth model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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