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Understanding the Roles of Money, or When is the Friedman Rule Optimal, and Why?

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Abstract

In this paper, we study the optimal steady state monetary policy in overlapping generations (OG) models. In contrast to economies populated by inthnitely-lived representative agents (ILRA), the Friedman Rule is frequently not the policy that maximizes the welfare of two-period lived consumers. Our principal goal is to understand why the Friedman Rule is suboptimal in OG economies. To this end, we construct a mechanism.specithcally, a monetary policy regime.that renders money useless in the sense of executing intergenerational transfers. Under this governmental regime, we show that the optimal monetary policy is the Friedman Rule. Our thnding is robust to alternative rationales for valued that money; specithcally, whether money is held voluntarily or involuntarily.

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  • Joe Haslag & Joydeep Bhattacharya & Steven Russell, 2003. "Understanding the Roles of Money, or When is the Friedman Rule Optimal, and Why?," Working Papers 0301, Department of Economics, University of Missouri.
    • Handle: RePEc:umc:wpaper:0301
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    1. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Haslag, Joseph H. & Martin, Antoine, 2006. "Sub-optimality of the Friedman rule in Townsend's turnpike and stochastic relocation models of money: Do finite lives and initial dates matter?," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 879-897, May.
    2. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Haslag, Joseph & Russell, Steven, 2005. "The role of money in two alternative models: When is the Friedman rule optimal, and why?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(8), pages 1401-1433, November.
    3. Bhattacharya, Joydeep & Haslag, Joseph & Martin, Antoine, 2009. "Optimal monetary policy and economic growth," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 210-221, February.
    4. Joydeep Bhattacharya & Joseph H. Haslag & Antoine Martin, 2005. "The Tobin effect and the Friedman rule," Staff Reports 224, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    5. Joydeep Bhattacharya & Joseph H. Haslag & Antoine Martin, 2005. "Heterogeneity, Redistribution, And The Friedman Rule," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 46(2), pages 437-454, May.
    6. Joseph H. Haslag & Joydeep Bhattacharya & Antoine Martin, 2004. "Sub-Optimality of the Friedman Rule in Townsends Turnpike and Limited Communication Models of money: Do finite lives and initial dates matter?," Working Papers 0415, Department of Economics, University of Missouri, revised 21 Dec 2004.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary Policy; Friedman Rule; Fiat Money;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies

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