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State-dependent pricing, inflation, and welfare in search economies

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  • Ben R. Craig
  • Guillaume Rocheteau

Abstract

This paper investigates the welfare effects of inflation in economies with search frictions and menu costs. We first analyze an economy where there is no transaction demand for money balances: Money is a mere unit of account. We determine a condition under which price stability is optimal and a condition under which positive inflation is desirable. We relate these conditions to a standard efficiency condition for search economies. Second, we consider a related economy in which there is a transaction role for money. In the absence of menu costs, the Friedman rule is optimal. In the presence of menu costs, the optimal inflation rate is negative for all our numerical examples. A deviation from the Friedman rule can be optimal depending on the extent of the search externalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben R. Craig & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2005. "State-dependent pricing, inflation, and welfare in search economies," Working Papers (Old Series) 0504, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedcwp:0504
    DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-200504
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    Cited by:

    1. Lorenzo Carbonari & Fabrizio Mattesini & Robert J. Waldmann, 2023. "Inflation and Welfare in a Competitive Search Equilibrium with Asymmetric Information," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(4), pages 717-746, June.
    2. Allen Head & Alok Kumar & Beverly Lapham, 2010. "Market Power, Price Adjustment, And Inflation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 51(1), pages 73-98, February.
    3. Herrenbrueck, Lucas, 2014. "Quantitative Easing and the Liquidity Channel of Monetary Policy," MPRA Paper 70686, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Apr 2016.
    4. Baranowski, Ryan, 2015. "Adaptive learning and monetary exchange," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-18.
    5. Stephen D. Williamson & Randall Wright, 2010. "New monetarist economics: methods," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 92(May), pages 265-302.
    6. Williamson, Stephen & Wright, Randall, 2010. "New Monetarist Economics: Models," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 2, pages 25-96, Elsevier.
    7. Hendrickson, Joshua R. & Salter, Alexander William, 2016. "Money, liquidity, and the structure of production," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 314-328.
    8. Ben Craig & Guillaume Rocheteau, 2008. "Inflation and Welfare: A Search Approach," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1), pages 89-119, February.
    9. Trejos, Alberto & Wright, Randall, 2016. "Search-based models of money and finance: An integrated approach," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 10-31.
    10. Pidong Huang & Manjong Lee, 2015. "Coordination on Use of Non-deferred Electronic Payment Instruments," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 31, pages 5-24.
    11. Wang, Liang, 2016. "Endogenous search, price dispersion, and welfare," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 94-117.
    12. Rocheteau, Guillaume & Wang, Lu, 2023. "Endogenous liquidity and volatility," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    13. Anbarci, Nejat & Dutu, Richard & Feltovich, Nick, 2015. "Inflation tax in the lab: a theoretical and experimental study of competitive search equilibrium with inflation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 17-33.

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    Inflation (Finance); Money; Monetary policy;
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