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A long-run, short-run, and politico-economic analysis of the welfare costs of inflation

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  • Dressler, Scott

Abstract

The long-run, short-run, and politico-economic welfare implications of inflation are assessed in a Bewley model of money demand. All agents produce and consume every period, and hold money to self-insure against idiosyncratic risk. The model is calibrated so the equilibrium monetary distribution shares features with US data. The long-run welfare costs of inflation are shown to be large because inflation reduces the ability of money to mitigate risk. However, the beneficial redistributive effect of inflation is magnified along the short-run transition and reduces the overall costs. These short-run benefits result in a majority-rule inflation rate above the Friedman Rule.

Suggested Citation

  • Dressler, Scott, 2016. "A long-run, short-run, and politico-economic analysis of the welfare costs of inflation," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB), pages 255-269.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jmacro:v:47:y:2016:i:pb:p:255-269
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmacro.2015.10.011
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    Cited by:

    1. Curran, Michael & Dressler, Scott J., 2020. "Preferences, inflation, and welfare," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
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    3. Jonathan Chiu & Miguel Molico, 2021. "Short-Run Dynamics in a Search-Theoretic Model of Monetary Exchange," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 133-155, October.
    4. Michael Patrick Curran & Scott J. Dressler, 2019. "Preference Heterogeneity, Inflation, and Welfare," Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series 40, Villanova School of Business Department of Economics and Statistics.
    5. Grolleau, Gilles & Weber, Christoph, 2024. "The effect of inflation on CO2 emissions: An analysis over the period 1970–2020," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inflation; Welfare; Transitions; Voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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