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A framework for understanding inflation - with or without money

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Abstract

This paper presents a model that pictures how inflation is determined in a decentralized market process where prices are set in both simultaneous and sequential contracts. Price setting is seen as a coordination game between the price setters of sequential contracts. An important property of the model is that inflation thus can be explained without any reference to the quantity of money.Following up the finding that inflation is determined in a coordination game, it is subsequently claimed that whenever inflation does not follow a random path, people do seem to follow some rule of thumb when predicting future price levels. In the last section of the paper, it is finally claimed that this rule is best understood as a focal point, and furthermore that the central banks provides the focal point for inflation in the western world today. Central banks could thus be shown to be able to influence inflation rates, although the quantity of money plays no part in this process.

Suggested Citation

  • Bengtsson, Ingemar, 2005. "A framework for understanding inflation - with or without money," Working Papers 2005:28, Lund University, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2005_028
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    File URL: http://project.nek.lu.se/publications/workpap/Papers/wp05_28.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer, 1989. "Lectures on Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262022834, April.
    2. Bengtsson, Ingemar, 2005. "Central bank power is a matter of faith," Working Papers 2005:21, Lund University, Department of Economics.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Central Banking; Focal Points; Inflation; Monetary Policy; Money; Quantity Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • 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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